Illinois Woman Sets Guinness World Record For Highest Library Book Fine Paid

A woman in Morton, IL had found a book in her mother's house that was a bit overdue.

Emily Canellos-Simms paid the fine that came along with it, and inadvertently set a Guinness World Record because of the cost.

The book, Days and Deeds, a book of children's poems, was checked out of Kewanee Public Library on April 19, 1955.

The fine accumulated at two cents a day, for 47 years. She ended up paying the fine, which ended up being $345.14.

While the fine may be the largest fine paid, the record for longest book overdue goes to George Washington, whose estate returned a copy of The Law of Nations to the New York Library he checked out after becoming president and didn't return it. Mount Vernon returned it 221 years later.

When I was a kid, I had gone to the library with my mom to get a few books for school, and I went a few months without returning it. By the time I had found the books and returned them, the woman had to permanently close my account because my fines had exceeded $100. I haven't been to the library since. I'm not paying $5 for another library card.

Read more at UPI