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 — or just want to see the unique collection — can head to the Denton North Branch Library, 3020 N. Locust St., where they’re 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 Dončić sticker card.
“It’s always interesting to see what people use as bookmarks,” 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’s fascinating to see what people use as bookmarks, Mims said it’s a bit sad that the family photos and postcards with sentimental value were left behind inside the books.
“Our goal with putting everything up on the board was essentially, ‘Hey, look at all the weird things we found,’” Mims said. “But also, if you see anything that’s yours, please come take it, please claim it, please. Get this item back to you, especially the family photos.”
The idea of displaying the collection came from Kasey Fanucchi, the assistant branch manager, who emailed Rebecca Ivey, the library’s 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’s lost and found policy, the library’s lost and found items become the library’s 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’re items of value.
The collection of bookmarks displayed isn’t all the items, as staff collected a variety of bookmarks last year. Mims said they will rotate the bookmarks displayed in the coming weeks.
“So we don’t want to trash them,” Mims said. “We want people to see these things. And we’d like them to come claim the ones that are theirs.”