芬兰图书馆百年"死书"复活

A Finnish library-goer apparently thought 'better late than never' and quietly returned a book on loan for more than 100 years to a library in Vantaa, in southern Finland.

The library had long since lost track of the loan but welcomed back to its collections the bound copy of a 1902 volume of Vartija, an active religious monthly periodical at the time.

"We are unclear when exactly it was borrowed and who returned it. There weren't any documents with it," librarian Minna Saastamoinen said.

"There is an old note attached to the book which says there is a fine of 10 pennies a week for late returns," she added.

The library sticker inside the cover, and the old-fashioned handwriting on it, showed the book was last officially loaned out at the beginning of the last century, she said.

Finland is known for a comprehensive library network with more than 900 libraries for its 5.3 million inhabitants. In 2006, each Finn on average visited a library 11 times and borrowed nearly 20 books.

The periodical was borrowed such a long time ago that the Korso branch of the Vantaa library, where the tome was finally handed in, did not even exist when the book was borrowed.

近日，芬兰一位图书借阅者将一本借出100多年的书悄悄归还给了芬兰南部万塔的一家图书馆，显然他（她）是觉得“迟还总比不还好”。

芬兰图书馆这本失而复得的书是当时很活跃的一本宗教月刊《瓦提加》1902年卷的合订本。

图书管理员米娜．萨斯塔摩恩说：“我们不清楚这本书具体是什么时候借出去的，也不知道是谁还回来的。我们这没有任何相关记录。”

她说：“那本书里附有一张旧标签，上面写着逾期归还一周要罚款10便士。”

据她介绍，从这本书封面里的图书馆标签及上面的旧笔迹可以判断，这本书最后一次正式借出是在上个世纪初。

芬兰以其综合的图书馆网络而闻名，芬兰共有530万居民，而图书馆数量竟达到900多个。2006年，芬兰平均每个居民去图书馆11次，借书近20本。

这本书的借出时间太久远，它最终“落户”的万塔图书馆科索分馆在其借出时甚至都不存在。