Last updated on December 3, 2023
While not a world record, someone recently returned a vinyl record to the Jamaica Plain Branch Library that was due in 1976!
The vinyl record was left in the return bin in the front of the library and the staff didn’t see who returned the record that was due on October 27, 1976. Maybe the person was worried about being fined, but Boston public libraries no longer fine people for late items.
For the record — the vinyl record was Junior Walker and The All Stars’ “Anthology”, which was released in 1974.
The vinyl record wasn’t even in the system — maybe because the Jamaica Plain Branch Library doesn’t even have vinyl records to lend anymore — nor do other Boston branch libraries. JP’s branch librarians contacted the archival department at Boston’s Central Library to let them know about the record.
The record was originally lent out by the Egleston Square Branch Library, which is seen on the due date card pocket in the back of the vinyl record. A punch card that was part of the BPL’s system to check out items was also with the album.
And by no means is this the first time a library item was returned to the JP branch decades after it was due. Last year someone mailed a book to the Jamaica Plain Branch Library from Canada that had been taken out from Boston in the 1980s.
