A SCOTS library has had a book returned to them – almost 5,000 miles away from where it was borrowed.
Orkney Library and Archive received a copy of Angela Lansbury: A Life on Stage and Screen at their mobile library in Kirkwall, Orkney, on Tuesday.
When a librarian at the island library was checking through the books for a stamp and date of when it was borrowed, they noticed a completely different marking.
Upon closer inspection, it became apparent that the book belonged to Pima County Public Library in Tucson, Arizona – 4,917 miles away from where it now resides.
Orkney Library and Archive shared an image of the book on social media yesterday where followers have left comments about the well travelled book.
Orkney Library and Archive said: “A book was just returned that thought it was a loner, but it wasn’t ours at all.
“A book that left its home in Tucson Arizona, for some Orkney Library balls.
“Get back, get back, get back to where you once belonged.
“We’ve had a book handed in that has come all the way from Tucson-Pima Library in Arizona.
“It looks like it has been withdrawn from stock so we won’t really make it go back to where it once belonged. Any excuse to sing #TheBeatlesGetBack though.”
The post received hundreds of likes and comments from social media users.
Lynda Evertington said: “A travelled book that is not about travel.”
Fiona Potter said: “Perhaps it could become a travelling book.”
Deborah Prekker Jones said: “Hello from Tucson, Arizona. I guess this local book heard me mention that there was a great library in Kirkwall and suddenly it was ‘Leaving on a Jet Plane’ to pay you a visit!”
Shawna Brown said: “That book has travelled a long way.”
Betty O’Callaghan said: “A case for Miss Marple?”
Angela Lansbury played Miss Marple in the 1980 film The Mirror Crack’d.
The novel Angela Lansbury: A Life on Stage and Screen was published in 1996 and recounts the storied career of the actress.
She is best known for roles in Bedknobs and Broomsticks and voicing Mrs Potts in Beauty and the Beast.
A spokeswoman for Orkney Library and Archive today said: “The book was returned to the mobile library on Tuesday.
“I spoke to the mobile library driver and it was in a bag of books handed in that contained a number of books to be donated to the library.
‘On emptying the bag it was noticed that the Angela Lansbury book had been a library book belonging to Tucson-Pima Library in Arizona.
‘It’s a large print copy – we have the book in normal print but now that we have it we might add it to our stock so it will get to be a library book in both Arizona and Orkney.
‘As soon as we saw Tucson, Arizona we thought of the lyrics to Get Back by The Beatles.’
