[johnny]

I'm pretty sure most libraries don't really hold a person responsible if a book's been out for a certain amount of years. You'd have to look into it for your local library, but for mine, my friend had a book checked out for something like ten years because she'd lost it, and she was afraid to go back. Then she went back just to check what she owed and they'd completely wiped their records of anyone who hadn't checked out a book in x amount of years.

But then again, my library system makes you renew your card every year, so they're very strict about clearing the system of unused accounts.