Library exhibit shows 'glimpse of humanity' in lost items in books

Over a period of 10 years, a team of librarians has been collecting little items found in returned library books. There are now more 350 items which are being featured in a physical and online collection.

Many of the items appear to have been left behind by children, including notes left to indicate their favourite sections of a book. Source: Twitter / @oaklibraryfound

Photographs, to-do lists, plane tickets and quirky drawings by children are part of thousands of lost and forgotten items in library books carefully collected for years by a librarian in California.

The items are now part of a collection called "Found in a Library Book" at the Oakland Public Library, whose main downtown branch display cases feature post-it notes, cards, drawings and bookmarks.

Among the items are a ticket to an Oakland Athletics baseball game on April 25, 2013 and a ticket to a Heineken beer-related event dated 19 November, 2002.

Any item found in a returned book throughout the library system gets sent to librarian Sharon McKellar, who began collecting the items 10 years ago. A few days ago, she opened envelopes containing polaroid photos, two post-it notes stuck to each other with a list of ingredients on one and a list of bible verses on another and a single square sheet of toilet paper.

"I like imagining where these came from," said McKellar, who has been with the library since 2003.

"It just feels like a really interesting archive of our community, of the city and the people who use our libraries and the diversity within those, and just kind of a glimpse at humanity and who we all are and how we're all connected."