Bungay Community Library staff return book checked out 37 years ago to Shetland Library

Library staff in Suffolk have gone the extra mile - or 750 miles - to return a book which had been checked out decades ago.

A copy of To Sea in a Sieve by Peter Bull, which was due to be returned to Shetland Library on July 12, 1983, was handed in to Bungay Community Library in August by a woman whose late husband had originally borrowed the book.

The book sat in Bungay's library for months while Covid-19 and travel restrictions were place, but on Saturday was finally returned to the library from which it had been checked out 37 years ago.

It made the lengthy journey in the hands of Christine Douglas, a member of staff from Bungay Community Library, who happened to be going on holiday.

Shetland librarian Catherine Jeromson said: “It’s really nice they went to the effort of coming all this way to return the book.

“It’s the icing on the cake to put the book back after all this time.

“We have never had a book that overdue turn up somewhere so far away - to be handed in 750 miles away, it’s a lovely story.

“Luckily we don’t do overdue fines.

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