LOCAL

Incredible journey: How an Upper Arlington library book traveled the Midwest, made it back

Portrait of Anna Lynn Winfrey Anna Lynn Winfrey
Columbus Dispatch

An Upper Arlington Public Library patron checked out “All the Ways We Said Goodbye,” a 2020 historical fiction novel, shortly before going on a trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

It’s unclear if they were able to finish the 448-page book before they left it at a trailhead at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

A kind soul from Hoffman Estates, a suburb on the outskirts of Chicago, took the book home with them and mailed it back to Upper Arlington. All they included in the package was the book and a note of where they found it.

“Most people would not go to that length of trouble, but I thought that was sweet,” said Sara Coles, the customer service manager for the library system who opened the package. “There's still nice people in the world; I guess sometimes we forget.”

Someone found this Upper Arlington library book, "All the Ways We Said Goodbye," at a trailhead in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and mailed it back from a Chicago suburb.

Coles appreciates how the person who mailed back the book cherishes libraries and “they feel like libraries are such a loved and trusted thing in this country.”

Coles has reached out to the person who checked out the book but has not spoken with them on the phone. Since the book was returned, though, they will not have to pay a fee to replace the book. (The library eliminated most fines in 2019, but some fees still apply to lost items.)

“We ask two things: Return it on time and in good condition,” Coles said.

The book that journeyed all over the Midwest came back with minimal signs of its arduous trek: The cover was slightly dusty and needed to be wiped off, but the pages inside were intact.

Coles has been working in Upper Arlington libraries for the past 16 years but initially started her career in banking. While most patrons bring their books back normally, sometimes people find books left behind at public parks and some local mail carriers return books misplaced in mailboxes.

People often leave things in books when they return them: Coles has seen everything from uncashed checks and medical records to hundreds of dollars of Christmas cash used as bookmarks.

Sara Coles, pictured here on Sept. 18, at the Tremont Road Branch, is the customer service manager for the Upper Arlington Public Library.

“The stuff that people put in books — it astounds me. We find all sorts of things, and we do try to get things home as much as we can,” Coles said, especially if it seems particularly personal or sentimental.

Sand residue and boarding passes to far-off locations tip off library staff on where people take books they’ve borrowed. Coles joked that she’s “a little salty when I feel like the books are having more fun than me.”

If she could say anything to the patron who checked out “All the Ways We Said Goodbye,” Coles said “the universe was looking out for you that day.”

“You're lucky — the universal book drop was in action,” Coles said.

awinfrey@gannett.com