Denver librarians tell all: The weirdest things people left in returned books

When Walt Disney stated, “There may be extra treasure in books than in all of the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island,” he seemingly wasn’t envisioning bologna slices stuffed between pages.

However Denver librarians rely the meat product among the many trove of things discovered inside returned library books and picked up by employees.

Madison Hosack, a librarian at Denver Public Library’s Central Library, is tasked with evaluating collections, that means Hosack and her colleagues undergo the stacks to test books’ circumstances.

Throughout that course of, she and her coworkers started amassing the gadgets — odd, humorous, candy or perishable — that they arrive throughout whereas flipping via the pages.

“It’s such a variety of stuff that you just’ll discover,” Hosack stated. “Bookmarks from all around the world, to-do lists, little doodles or drawings.

An illustrated story entitled “The Awful Ketchup Bottle.” Marijuana leaves. An origami chicken. A Pokémon card. A Cinemark ticket stub to “Little Ladies.” A bookmark from Stardust E-book Emporium in Savannah, Georgia. The aforementioned lunch meat.

As Hosack and different library employees stumbled throughout the keepsakes, she began assembling bulletin boards showcasing their greatest finds after which compiled weblog posts with footage of the lost-and-found treasures.

“It’s simply this small object, nevertheless it has a narrative behind it, and it’s cool as a result of it’s just like the story of somebody who had that e book earlier than you, so it’s this level of connection,” she stated. “I used to be making an attempt to brainstorm methods to share that with different individuals.”

Whereas Hosack and the employees love discovering what lies inside the spines of their collections, Hosack confused that folks needs to be cautious they’re not leaving delicate private info contained in the books that may very well be taken benefit of.

Hosack has a few favourite finds.

One, a to-do listing written by a baby, Abi, meant for her mom. One of many gadgets to be checked off was “give Abi a hug.”

One other, a enjoying card — a two of spades — with the phrase “10:40 p.m. come alone” written on it.

“I believe it spreads pleasure, however if you discover an object like that, it sparks curiosity — nevertheless it additionally feels actually particular, and if you take a look at them on a bulletin board or in a set, you get an concept of the vary and complexity of the individuals who make up the Denver neighborhood, however in a very easy, on a regular basis, humanizing form of manner.”