Library gets record back after 47 years ... but no longer has them

EAST PEORIA -- You can't blame the person who recently returned an old record to a central Illinois library for slipping quickly out the door. The record was a little late.

OK, a lot late.

Fondulac District Library Director Amy Falasz-Peterson says the album by 1950s pop singer Julius La Rosa was checked on Feb. 12, 1962. That made it 17,438 days -- over 47 years -- overdue when it showed up this month.

"A person came into the library, put the record on the desk and said, 'We don't know what to do with it. A family member passed away, and we found it in their stuff,'" Falasz-Peterson said Wednesday. "Before we could get their name, the person left."

It's been so long since the record was checked out, she said, the library doesn't have any idea who the scofflaw was.

At the nickel a day the library has charged since the 1960s, the fine would be a hefty $871.90. The library won't seek the money, she said, but did reconsider its late fees, raising the rate to a dime a day after the record came in.

Falasz-Peterson says the old black, vinyl disc is now so out of place, the library wasn't sure what to do with it.

"We haven't had albums in 13 years. I don't even think we have a record player anymore," she said.

So library staff have put it to work -- as part of a display reminding borrowers to get their books back on time or face the new, higher fines.

"It's never too late," said Falasz-Peterson, motioning to the album.