Forgotten treasures: the stranger things people leave in library books

It’s amazing what we leave in library books… Oakland Public Library has unveiled a collection of memorable items found in books over the last few decades.

For years, one US librarian collected the flotsam she found between the pages of borrowed titles.

Now, Sharon McKellar is opening her unique treasure trove for those visiting Oakland Public Library, California, in a special exhibition called "Found in a Library Book".

"I wanted to share something that was really interesting to me that I had a feeling would be interesting to other people," said McKellar, supervising librarian for teen services at Oakland Public Library.

“It tells a story of our community and our city in a different and sort of unexpected way and ties back to the library."

The documents left in between book pages range from the tantalizing to the mundane: bookmarks of children's art, Christmas snapshots, family photos, weekend to-do lists, letters written but never sent and notes from lovers.

Each of them offers a snapshot of the life of the person who left it there, and McKellar says that the collection makes her "feel optimistic about humanity."

"There are some that are letters or cards or postcards that were sent between people - or maybe not actually sent - that feel really personal," she says. "There are some notes and letters that feel very unfinished. Or I really want to know what happened next."

McKellar began collecting the apocrypha around 10 years ago and has blogged about her hobby for several years, but the chance to curate an exhibition came when the library launched a new website. This allowed her to group the ephemera by theme or category - including notes, art, photos, cards and letters, artifacts, bookmarks, creative writing, lists, and kids'