Library lost & found

Every library has a lost and found of some sort, even if it is just a collection box that gets taken to a main campus depository, we just can not help holding on to the lost treasures of patrons all the while hoping the return to reclaim them. I have a small lost and found area in the IRC and the circulation desk on the main floor has a lost and found as well. Maybe having two is overkill, but experience has shown if someone leaves something on the second floor, they come back to the second floor to get it. If we don't have it, they are sent to the circ desk to peruse their collection.

A lot of interesting, even odd, items get left behind. Besides the regular items of disks (not so much now with pen drives), pictures and homework in the scanners, notebooks, small projects, and the occasional pair of glasses. In fact, we often get the same things you find in an elementary school classroom when winter arrives, hats, gloves, scarves, and the like. There are always a few oddities. Last week someone left a dirty bowl and a fork (I understand a bowl and spoon, but a fork). This morning was a first for me as I was powering up computers I noticed the lovely foil swan pictured to the left. I have to say this is the first time anyone has left us art.

I am left to ponder, is it trash or is it art?

Tags: Academic library, IRC, Library lost & found