An academic unwittingly ran up a fine of more than £8,500 for a library book in his possession that was 47 years overdue.
Emeritus Professor John "Jack" Foster from Queen's University Belfast's Institute of Irish Studies found the book by Arthur Hugh Clough, a Victorian poet, while clearing out his locker at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, where he previously worked.
The volume, entitled The Poems of Arthur Hugh Clough, bore a due date stamp of October 11, 1966.
It also bore a stamp saying Queen’s had obtained it in May 1921.
The McClay Library waived the £8,577.50 fine that would have been payable for its late return, however, saying it was just pleased to have it back again.
Prof Foster was mystified to discover the book.
He said "I had been a fan of Clough's, whom I had always thought of as an underrated poet overshadowed by Whitman, Browning and others, but I had left Queen's by that time and was at the University of Oregon as a doctoral student.
"I saw that it also had a stamp saying that Queen's had obtained the book in May 1921 so it was definitely their book and it was 47 years late, so outrageously overdue.
"Fines from the McClay Library are 50p per day for their seven-night loans so I was looking at a steep bill. As the Americans say: 'You do the math.'
"I suppose the moral of the story if you discover an overdue book is make sure it's really, really overdue before you think about returning it."
Figures last year revealed that universities had raised almost £50 million by fining students for overdue library books.
The University of Leeds was at the top of the table after raising more than £1.8 million in fines over a six-year period.
However, many library books are never returned at all, with more than 300,000 books remaining unaccounted for at universities across the country.
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