Are you missing an American Airlines boarding pass, sentimental family photos or a unique bookmark that you accidentally left after returning a book to the Denton North Branch Library?
Those who want to retrieve their lost bookmarks 鈥� or just want to see the unique collection 鈥� can head to the Denton North Branch Library, 3020 N. Locust St., where they鈥檙e all displayed.
Jason Mims, the North Branch Denton Library circulation supervisor, said they started collecting the left-behind bookmark items in January 2023 with the goal of returning the items.
Other items used as bookmarks that were found inside library books were a non-winning Texas lottery card, $10 in Monopoly currency and a Dallas Mavericks Luka Don膷i膰 sticker card.
鈥淚t鈥檚 always interesting to see what people use as bookmarks,鈥� Mims said in a phone call.
Mims said a variety of people have visited the library and taken a quick look at the display board to see whether the bookmark they had left behind was there.
While it鈥檚 fascinating to see what people use as bookmarks, Mims said it鈥檚 a bit sad that the family photos and postcards with sentimental value were left behind inside the books.
鈥淥ur goal with putting everything up on the board was essentially, 鈥楬ey, look at all the weird things we found,鈥欌�� Mims said. 鈥淏ut also, if you see anything that鈥檚 yours, please come take it, please claim it, please. Get this item back to you, especially the family photos.鈥�
The idea of displaying the collection came from Kasey Fanucchi, the assistant branch manager, who emailed Rebecca Ivey, the library鈥檚 branch manager, with details of another library collecting and displaying items used as bookmarks that were left behind.
Can a local ask for a lost bookmark if left unclaimed?
Mims said that as part of the city of Denton鈥檚 lost and found policy, the library鈥檚 lost and found items become the library鈥檚 property after about a year.
They then donate the items to Goodwill once or twice a month.
Mims said the staff hopes to return the family photos since they鈥檙e items of value.
The collection of bookmarks displayed isn鈥檛 all the items, as staff collected a variety of bookmarks last year. Mims said they will rotate the bookmarks displayed in the coming weeks.
鈥淪o we don鈥檛 want to trash them,鈥� Mims said. 鈥淲e want people to see these things. And we鈥檇 like them to come claim the ones that are theirs.鈥�