Open a good book and you can go on an adventure. Among them, it is the most exciting. Oakland Public Library librarian Sharon McKellar collects forgotten memorabilia left behind in library books.Now she's collecting old family photos, notes she's collected over the years , coupons, recipes, and concert tickets have finally found a use for them all.
McKellar launched the "Found in a Library Book" project. This is an online database of all books found in libraries in Oakland, California. It started as her personal collection, but grew when other library staff also began submitting artifacts. I was inundated with small collections that other people had found," McKellar told CBS News. "So when I realized I wasn't the only one who had these things and enjoyed them, it was an easy decision to keep going.
McKellar added 370 artifacts to the library's online collection, but she said she needed to upload hundreds more.
"There are definitely some favorites. Anything a child has created that I think I love," she said. I was.
There are some paintings left by children. One is a drawing by a boy named CJ who looks like his father with devil horns. Another shows a robot dad.
"I love the way children can express themselves through drawing and writing," said McKellar.
Many of the artifacts are notes, some of which belong to children: "Dear librarian, the three children over there are making too much noise for me to read, My friend can't do his homework."
Parent's voice: "Dream sweet. Good night. Sleep well."
Part of Partner: "Remember, I love you. The past is the past, so let's not bring it back."
Some left for the next reader It's a book review. ``I loved this book. 47} 
Other artifacts are less important: old playing cards, baggage tags, large red gum wrappers, pizza coupons, pre-Vietnamese pay phone cards. Not surprisingly, there are also some bookmarks that read, "I love my attitude problems."
McKellar said that while the origin of the forgotten artifact remains a mystery, some people have recognized the item on online databases. I recognized what I wrote, never actually been to the Auckland Public Library, but lived in the nearby city, so I don't know how I got here, but I know I wrote I imagine it's a memo for someone else," she said.
"Another contacted me because one of her love letters looked like her parents' handwritten letters and the kind of notes her parents had left for each other." she said. "Her mother and she saw it and agreed that it was very likely a note exchanged between her mother and father who lived here in Oakland in the late 80's.
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The project is fairly new, but McKellar hopes to inspire people to dive into the books at their local library. Maybe an old baby picture, You can find them in library books, she said, such as tickets to the 2004 Auckland A game, or maps of Japan.
"You kind of share space." So even if you're not the one who found it, even if you don't know what book this came from, you know that this person is in the same community as me. I still have the feeling that they were in or were in the same community as me and using the same resources," said McKellar. “I think one of the reasons people are particularly excited right now is that we've obviously gone through a period of severing ties with COVID.
Caitlin O'Kane is a digital content producer for CBS News and its news brands
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