Corte Madera library book penalty paid 48 years later

A kid failing to return a library book is unsurprising, but someone promising to pay the overdue fees nearly half a century later made Stephanie Hartwell-Mandella do a double take.

“I don’t check our Facebook that often, but toward the end of the day before Thanksgiving I saw the message and said, ‘Wow, what a sweet thing,'” said Hartwell-Mandella, branch manager at the Corte Madera Library.

“It’s an unusual request because it came from a friend of the person who checked out book,” she said. “In the message, he said his friend would joke about it from time to time, and about the late notices he received for five to 10 years.”

The first-grader who checked out “Look Out For Pirates!” by Iris Vinton in 1972 was Tony Goodman, who grew up to become CEO and president of PeopleFun, a mobile game developer in Dallas. He got the book during the one year he and his family lived in Corte Madera while he attended Neil Cummins Elementary School.

“I really liked the book,” said Goodman, who before working for PeopleFun helped create the Age of Empires computer game franchise. “It’s a great read for kids.”

The person who repaid the book, however, was Goodman’s coworker and friend, Kenny Newell, who learned about his boss’ transgression and wanted to make things right.

“Obviously, it was almost 50 years ago and has been lost to time,” said Newell. “But I was wanting to pay the late fee or replacement cost for the book as a joke and giving him a confirmation receipt for Christmas.”

On Dec. 11, Newell gave Goodman the receipt for $58 paid to the Marin County Free Library, which manages the Corte Madera branch.

Newell paid $48 for the late fee — a dollar for each year overdue and the estimated $10 cost of replacing the book in 1972 dollars. As a “what if,” the library calculated how much the overdue fees would have cost back then, which would have been 10 cents per day at 17,865 days, which came out to 178,650 cents, or $1,786.50.

“Although,” Hartwell-Mandella said, “we would’ve capped the final at the original cost of the book, which was probably no more than $5 or $10 back in 1971.”

Sara Jones, director of the Marin County Free Library, said she is not sure how many books were checked out and returned, because the library did away with late fees to promote equity and access.

Hartwell-Mandella said even though issuing fines for children’s materials ended in 2015, the gesture was welcomed.

“What a wonderful surprise to find Mr. Newell’s note in our inbox during these vexing times,” she said. “His is a classic example … fear of fines becomes a barrier to service. Often children’s cards are blocked, meaning they won’t have library access. No one benefits from blocking a child’s card.”

Jones said she wants this gesture of kindness to inspire others to return overdue books.

“In a way, we hope hundreds of people find overdue books, become overcome with guilt, and get inspired to make peace with their local libraries,” Jones said. “It’s critical right now to support reading and education at a time when stay-at-home orders are keeping people inside and curled up with books. And it’s also good for karma.”

As people nationwide are challenged by shelter-in-place orders, any goodwill is welcomed, she said.

“During a year when smiles are in short supply and tension has been high for many, it was fun to stop and do something silly,” Newell said. “Hopefully, it won’t count against me on my next employee quarterly review.”