The days of visiting the library may be long gone for many, but librarians still have a role to play, tending to library-related matters on a daily basis.

One of those matters involves dealing with “returns” and donations.

While we are often privy to rumours and myths about secret notes being left behind in library books, full-time librarian Romeo Rosales asked his colleagues about some of the weirdest things they have found inside books before packing them onto the shelves.

From the downright weird to the obvious NSFW moments, here’s what they shared with him:

“I once opened a book and found a tin can lid inside. I did not want to cut myself so I walked the book over to the trash can and slid the lid off the book to dispose of it. I thought it was some kind of brujeria (witchcraft)!”

“As I was going through book donations, I noticed one book had a large amount of papers sticking out of it. I pulled the papers out and after reading through some of them, I quickly realized they were either sexual letters written to a woman or someone was working on some serious erotica for a future book. The details were pretty graphic so I had to toss them in the trash pretty quickly.”

“One time I opened a donated book and there was a letter in there from a woman to a family thanking them for helping her learn to play music. The letter was very old so I decided to research the name of the woman who wrote the letter. It turns out she became a famous musician! I thought it was the coolest thing. I am tempted to reach out to her to let her know I found her letter.”

“A coworker and I were checking in books at the circulation desk when we noticed one book looked odd. The pages were spaced apart in a weird way. Upon further inspection, we noticed there was hair taped to multiple pages throughout the book. It was gross and creepy so we decided to discard that book right then and there.”

“All I can say is I have found unmentionables that include condoms (wrapped and unwrapped), tampons and other nasty things.”

A tin can lid? Multiple pieces of hair? Notes for an erotic novel? I guess this means a regular hand wash, and even a latex glove or two, might be on the cards – just not Miss SA style.

[source:bookriot]