Honora Rodriguez was going about her day at Kaposia Library in South St. Paul, where she is the branch manager, when a man came in to return an overdue vinyl — nearly 50 years late.

As an eighth-grader in 1976, Zef Miller checked out Cat Stevens’ “Greatest Hits” vinyl record from the now-closed South St. Paul Library. On Monday, he brought the very same record to Kaposia Library, wanting to return it to its rightful owners and see how much he owed in overdue fees, Rodriguez said.

“I went to check out the new library with my grandchildren and I had to open a new library card,” Miller told the Pioneer Press on Thursday. Opening a new library card got him thinking about the last time he used one.“I went there many times and checked out many albums. I was too poor to buy them then,” Miller said of the South St. Paul Library.

“It got lost in my other albums, I guess it wasn’t something I cherished at the time,” Miller said of the Cat Stevens record, which he never intended to keep past its due date.

“(The record) was checked out three years before I was born,” said Rodriguez, who has worked as a librarian since 2007. “It’s the oldest return I’ve seen,” she said.

“It’s been in my record collection for 50 years,” said Miller, adding that he listened to it “one last time” before bringing it in.

Yusuf Islam, who is more commonly recognized by his former stage name Cat Stevens, rose to fame with hits like “Wild World,” “Father And Son” and “Morning Has Broken.”

The singer-songwriter changed his name and converted to Islam in the late 1970s. After converting, he took a step back from the entertainment industry and became involved in charity work before being inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.

How much does he owe?

When the record was initially checked out, the South St. Paul Library at the northeast corner of Third and Marie avenues was an independent city-run library.

The nearly 100-year-old library, which was built in 1927 when Calvin Coolidge was president, was closed in December 2023 due to the lack of space, accessibility and modern amenities.

South St. Paul is now home to the one-year-old Kaposia Library at 131 N. Seventh Ave., which, lucky for our Cat Stevens fan, is part of the Dakota County Library system.

Unbeknownst to Miller, the Dakota County Library system terminated its late fees as of Jan. 2, 2024.

Before this change, readers were charged 30 cents for each day a book was kept past due, Rodriguez said.

Hypothetically, if this same rule applied to vinyls, this particular earworm would have set Miller back around $5,250 to return.

Rodriguez assured that the library would charge a replacement fee at most, but it’s still fun to do the math.

“My son said they would take the album and put it on a wall of shame,” Miller said with a laugh, but so much time had passed that the library wouldn’t take it back.

“The reluctant returner was ready to settle up, but we let him know: We’re fine free AND no longer circulate vinyl! So, this time, the record gets to stay with him,” Rodriguez wrote on the Dakota County Library Facebook page.

Before other music enthusiasts get any ideas, note that while late fees no longer accumulate, if an item is overdue by 42 days, it will be considered lost and billed to the account holder.