"The OED! I'm on my way...."

Who says law and order are on the decline these days? Not in Jessup, Iowa, thank you very much, where a woman has been arrested for an overdue library book. The Des Moines Register reported that Shelly Koontz was arrested for having kept The Freedom Writers Diary, a collection of essays about the struggles of inner-city high school students, out of the Jessup Public Library since April 2008. Koontz is now free after posting $250 bail for having kept the $13.95 book out for too long. “Theft is theft,” explained Jesup Police Sgt. Chris Boos. And the library did try real hard to get the book back, according to the Register‘s report—sending 4 official letters and calling her home four times asking for its return—before they turned to Police Sgt. Boos, who explained that “Koontz could be arrested on a theft charge.” Apparently, there’s some funny business going on here though that the Jessup Library can’t quite tell us about. According to the Register, “Tom McGlaughlin, president of the Jesup library board, said pursuing criminal charges against a patron for an overdue book is unusual, but the circumstances were also out of the ordinary. He declined to elaborate. ‘There is more to this issue than is coming to light at the present time,’ McGlaughlin said Friday. ‘It would be inappropriate to discuss those circumstances.'” We look forward to a full investigation, and trust that justice will be served.