美国国家公共电台 NPR--A librarian collects all the things left in books — from love letters to old photos

A librarian collects all the things left in books — from love letters to old photos

Transcript¹

A photo illustration of items left behind in books at the Oakland Public Library in Oakland, Calif.

Photo illustration: Vanessa Leroy and Nell Clark via Oakland Public Library

An ornate pencil drawing of a dragon; a floral postcard congratulating a 40th birthday, never mailed; a silver crochet² hook.

All of these items share a connection: They were left behind in books returned to the Oakland Public Library.

Librarian Sharon McKellar collects the found artifacts and posts them on the library's website in a collection titled "Found in a Library Book."

McKellar was fascinated by the things she'd find at the library and the anonymous³ glimpses into people's lives they offered. She thought the public may be interested too, so nearly 10 years ago she began adding found items to the library's website.

"I had always collected little things I'd found in library books and I knew other people did that too," McKellar said. "So that was how it started. It was pretty simple, I was inspired by a magazine called Found Magazine."

Oakland librarians send McKellar the things they find, which she then scans and adds to the library's growing online collection.

The archive now includes more than 350 items of all sorts. There are yellowed photographs, snippets of homework, bus tickets, love notes and postcards among the collection.

Many of the items appear to come from children. In one note, a child praises "Borok Oboma" for his speeches and family devotion. In another, the writer Ana asks someone in Spanish to check "yes", "no" or "maybe" to say if the two are friends (none of the bubbles are checked.)

Some of McKellar's favorites appear to have been left behind on purpose.

"There's an entire annotated⁴ Matilda by Roald Dahl, where a young person put Post-it notes all through the book with just things that popped into their mind as they read it, like, 'Wow! I can't believe the teacher did this,'" she said.

Many of the items seem mysterious without context or origins, and for more than nine years no one ever reached out to claim one, McKellar said.

That changed last month, when Jamee Longacre was looking through some of the collection and a green sticky note caught her eye.

Constipation in Babies!!

"I even jokingly leaned further in closer to my computer screen," Longacre said, trying to scrutinize⁵ it. She recognized the loopy letters of her own handwriting.

Longacre is from nearby Concord⁶, California. She said she remembered writing the note, but couldn't recall the context or who it was given away to. She said she hadn't been to one of Oakland's libraries.

"I just kind of giggled⁷ to myself," Longacre said, when she realized the note was her own. She reached out to McKellar to claim it.

To McKellar, the project's fun lies in imagining an item's possible history and the person it belonged to.

"It lets us be a little bit nosy⁸. In a very anonymous way, it's like reading people's secret diaries a little bit but without knowing who they are," or breaching⁹ anyone's trust, she said.

She said the library may someday hold a writing contest and ask people to submit short stories to go along with the found items.

Under McKellar's desk, she keeps a box of more found notes waiting to be added to the website. In between meetings, she'll often take out a note or photo or a drawing and examine it.

"I wonder if it was a precious object to somebody," McKellar said. "Does the person miss that item? Do they regret having lost it or were they careless with it because they actually didn't share those deep and profound feelings with the person who wrote [it]?" she wonders.

Then she'll scan the item and add it to the collection.

NPR's Vanessa Leroy contributed to the digital version of this story.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 crochet   

n.钩针织物；v.用钩针编制

参考例句：

• That's a black crochet waistcoat.那是一件用钩针编织的黑色马甲。
• She offered to teach me to crochet rugs.她提出要教我钩织小地毯。

3 anonymous   

adj.无名的；匿名的；无特色的

参考例句：

• Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
• The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。

4 annotated   

v.注解，注释( annotate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Thematic maps should always be annotated with the source and date of the topical information. 各类专题地图，均应注明专题资料来源和日期。 来自辞典例句
• And this is the version annotated by Umberto de Bologna. 并且这是有安博多-德-波罗格那注释的版本。 来自电影对白

5 scrutinize   

n.详细检查，细读

参考例句：

• Her purpose was to scrutinize his features to see if he was an honest man.她的目的是通过仔细观察他的相貌以判断他是否诚实。
• She leaned forward to scrutinize their faces.她探身向前，端详他们的面容。

6 concord   

n.和谐；协调

参考例句：

• These states had lived in concord for centuries.这些国家几个世纪以来一直和睦相处。
• His speech did nothing for racial concord.他的讲话对种族和谐没有作用。

7 giggled   

v.咯咯地笑( giggle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The girls giggled at the joke. 女孩子们让这笑话逗得咯咯笑。
• The children giggled hysterically. 孩子们歇斯底里地傻笑。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 nosy   

adj.鼻子大的，好管闲事的，爱追问的；n.大鼻者

参考例句：

• Our nosy neighbours are always looking in through our windows.好管闲事的邻居总是从我们的窗口望进来。
• My landlord is so nosy.He comes by twice a month to inspect my apartment.我的房东很烦人，他每个月都要到我公寓视察两次。

9 breaching   

攻破( breach的过去式 )； 破坏，违反

参考例句：

• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。
• Third, an agency can abuse its discretion by breaching certain principles of judge-made law. 第三，行政机关会因违反某些法官制定的法律原则而构成滥用自由裁量权。