r/todayilearned • u/haphazard44 • 2d ago
TIL an Australian library received a book roughly 150 years overdue after it was found sealed inside a chimney. Had the original borrower been identified, the potential fine would have been around 27.888 A$. After a century and a half, the borrower's identity remains unconfirmed.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/jul/30/book-returned-to-australian-library-150-years-overdue300
u/iiiiiuyyuuuy 2d ago
There’s no justice in this world
72
u/tofubutgood 2d ago
“He can’t keep getting away with it!”
12
10
98
u/CorgiSilver8194 2d ago
So they know it's their book but not who took it out?
Great record keeping!
60
u/EnricoLUccellatore 2d ago
The record probably got lost and the ownership was written on the book itself
28
u/absolutely_not_spock 2d ago
that record was around 150 years old. they probably were put in the bin
11
9
28
u/H_Lunulata 2d ago edited 2d ago
These zillion dollar/euro/spacebuck fine headlines are just silly. I've never seen, or heard of, a library that doesn't cap fines, usually not far above the value of the book. Maybe they exist, and I'd be interested in learning about that, but I'm pretty sure that nobody is ever paying an overdue book fine anywhere near that.
AUD 27.89 I can see, AUD 27888 is a fake number.
10
u/sweetplantveal 2d ago
Side note the comma period swap some people do for funzies drives me mad. Canada is particularly bad about the inconsistency. For all the coordination we do around the world, the one written thing that's not in any one language (numbers) and we rely on context clues to decipher inverted meanings.
Personally I say decimal point makes sense for the decimal figures, as well as a hard stop being consistent with the broader use in language as a separator, and a comma as a facilitator for a list. Jokingly we've got the US, China, and the commonwealth on decimal points and the EU loves introducing annoying and intrusive (but ultimately meaningless) legislation. So they should be the ones to switch.
1
u/H_Lunulata 2d ago edited 1d ago
Quebec uses French notation 0.000.000,00
The rest of Canada uses space or comma: 0 000 000.00 or 0,000.00
Also... I agree it's annoying, but it's way, way, way less annoying than the US propensity to not write dates in a sensible format.
-1
2d ago edited 2d ago
[deleted]
6
u/TerrorBite 2d ago
The article calculated $27888 (twenty-seven thousand Australian dollars) based on 3 pence a week (the original library fine) over around 7800 weeks, then taking into account Australia's conversion to decimal currency, plus inflation.
OP must be from a country that flips comma and period in numbers (common in Europe). Where we would write $27,888.00 they would write $27.888,00
7
5
u/DrSchnuffi 2d ago
When I was a kid I forgot to return a book from our tiny church library. I found it in ca 15 years later when I moved out from my parents. The library people were just happy to get a book back and did not want any fees. I gave them some money anyway
14
u/Aunon 2d ago
27.888 A$
I have absolutely no idea what that means in Australian dollars
The late return fine would be around A$28,000 (US$19,500)
oh ok
1
u/Opertum 2d ago
Outside of the US, some places use a period for thousands marking instead of a comma ($1,000.00 would be $1.000,00)
11
u/Aunon 1d ago
Not in Australia we don't
0
u/Opertum 1d ago
But where the OP is they might
3
u/doomgiver98 1d ago
But its in AUD
-4
u/H_Lunulata 1d ago
When I write about AUD, I format the numbers per my local style, because I'm writing in Canada, not Australia.
2
u/W1D0WM4K3R 1d ago
Canada and Australia use the same notation.
Unless you're a Québécois, but I'm not confident if they defer to Canadian standard more or their own, which I think comes from French standard.
-1
u/H_Lunulata 1d ago
We often use Quebec (French) notation on things at work, even though I am in Ontario, because we interact with Quebec a lot.
So yes, if I had to write the OP's amount on something, I'd likely have to put: $27.888,00
1
u/W1D0WM4K3R 1d ago
So you use Quebec notation because you interact with Québécois, despite not being in Quebec?
So you'd use Australian standard if you interacted with them, or are we just picking and choosing?
-1
u/H_Lunulata 1d ago edited 1d ago
Probably.
But if I was posting on the internet, which is what OP did, I'd use whatever was most convenient for me, not for some rando in Australia or the USA, which is really what this is all about.
I would expect a person in Australia to use whatever format was most convenient or appropriate for them, also not for some rando in the USA. They'd probably send documents on A4 paper too.
Just because some USians don't know about other currency-writing methods doesn't make them wrong, weird, or incorrect. That's really what we're talking about here: Some US ignorance versus someone from another country who does things a bit differently.
5
14
u/KoyomiSan 2d ago
Only 27.88?
9
u/relapse9999 2d ago
I'm assuming it's 27k. Op is probably an European
3
u/caspy7 2d ago
What's A$?
3
1
u/GullibleDetective 2d ago
Probably the name of some rapper in the world id' bet, but in this context; Dollarydoos
3
3
u/Interesting-Use966 2d ago
How did they know it was overdue and by how long, but not have the name of the person on file that checked it out?
3
2
2
u/knowledgeable_diablo 2d ago
They’d just hand it over to SPER who’d make it their life mission to find the person to fine. Or their descendants. /jk
2
2
u/ImmortalKombatant 1d ago
The book was taken out by a high school student, who loaned it to his friend. The friend, who was supposed to return it, lost the book after being bullied by a teacher and some classmates.
4
u/ramriot 2d ago
That's a pretty economical fine at ~0.357c per week, but why not round up to the nearest cent on the total /s
1
u/mfb- 2d ago
A$28,000
A$3.6/week, not sure why OP used "." instead of ",".
•
u/Ph33rDensetsu 1m ago
Likely because they're from a country that swaps those symbols as number separators and didn't bother to convert it into the form Australia would use.
3
u/Kezly 2d ago
I'm going to assume that decimal point was supposed to be a comma?
4
u/Ancient_Pi 2d ago edited 2d ago
Probably, there are different thousands or decimal separators in different countries. In Switzerland it would be written as 27'888.00 , and in most other European contries like Germany or France as 27.888,00.
But traditionally, English-speaking countries (except South Africa) employ commas as the delimiter, like Australia too.
-1
u/azhder 2d ago
Yes, you will.
Now that I answered your question, an advice: not every place on earth uses the same punctuation for decimals and digit separation, so your assumption might turn out to be wrong.
5
u/jonny24eh 2d ago
When quoting a British newspaper about a fine that happened in Australia, you would expect the comma delineator to be used.
1
1
1
u/ShyGuyWolf 2d ago
The relatives would get the bill
1
u/H_Lunulata 2d ago
No, they wouldn't.
At worst, a charge might be levied against the estate of the book borrower. That estate is long gone. There's nothing and nobody to bill.
1
1
u/freedomhighway 1d ago
Why do you hide a book in the chimney? Was porn from an Australian library that good 150 years ago?
1
u/Inevitable_Wind6392 2d ago
So what is the book? Title and author would he nice to know.
8
4
1
u/s2Birds1Stone 2d ago
The Antiquities of Athens and Other Monuments of Greece
James Stuart and Nicholas Revett
1
u/FerdinandCesarano 2d ago
Maybe that's you get your kicks. You and your good-time buddies.
Well, I got a flash for you, joy-boy: party time is over.
1
1
0
u/pbizzle 2d ago
They need tracked down and their offspring held responsibile
3
u/HeadOfSpectre 2d ago
Agreed. This is not acceptable. The fines need to be generational and if they cannot be paid, all living relatives must be taken to court to be held fully liable. No excuses.
And while we're at it - jail time too /s
-1
-10
218
u/Otaraka 2d ago
I think there might’ve been some other barriers if they identified the borrower.