Who returned LHOs library books on Oct 3rd 1963?

[Richard Smith]

The memo says: "Card shows return date" rather than just "return date".  A big difference.  It means the "return date" is established from the "card."  And that seems to further confirm Jerry O's theory that it means the due date and not the date actually returned.  Another conspiracy myth busted.

It's interesting that Oswald read "The Huey Long Murder Case" by Hermann B. Deutsch.  A case in which there are disputes over whether Long was killed by an assassin or accidentally shot by his own bodyguards.   

[John Iacoletti]

I’m not sure how Jerry’s photo of a random library book due date slip tells you anything about Oswald’s library books.

[Richard Smith]

LOL.  Do you think Oswald returned every book that he checked out precisely two weeks later?  A logical inference strongly suggests that this reflects the due date. 

[John Iacoletti]

It’s not at all unusual to think that Oswald kept his books until they had to be returned.

[John Tonkovich]

LOL.  Do you think Oswald returned every book that he checked out precisely two weeks later?  A logical inference strongly suggests that this reflects the due date.

The information provided by the WC in the OP is incomplete, and the wording is ambiguous.
"Return date" suggests the date the books were returned. "Due date" would be a different matter.
Reading the entire Commission Exhibit on this matter, we learn that the New Orleans public library system (supposedly) does not keep detailed records on patrons' activities.
No further effort seems to have been made to discover the actual library activity of Oswald. Why?

[Richard Smith]

The information provided by the WC in the OP is incomplete, and the wording is ambiguous.
"Return date" suggests the date the books were returned. "Due date" would be a different matter.
Reading the entire Commission Exhibit on this matter, we learn that the New Orleans public library system (supposedly) does not keep detailed records on patrons' activities.
No further effort seems to have been made to discover the actual library activity of Oswald. Why?

Again, the memo doesn't say "Return Date."  It says "Card Shows Return Date."  The "card" in a library book shows the due date.  That is bolstered by the fact that the dates noted are exactly two weeks from the day that the book was checked out.  The due date would be some fixed period of time like two weeks. Or do you think Oswald returned every book he checked out exactly two weeks later to the day?  LOL.  That seems to resolve this mystery.  How do you know no further effort was made to discover the actual library activity (btw that question seems to presume that this record shows the due date otherwise it would reflect his "actual library activity)?  How would they know, for example, that the NO library didn't keep detailed records if they made no efforts to obtain them?

[John Iacoletti]

Again, the memo doesn't say "Return Date."  It says "Card Shows Return Date."  The "card" in a library book shows the due date.

The memo doesn’t say that the card being referred to was a card inside the book showing a due date. That’s pure speculation.

[Charles Collins]

The memo doesn’t say that the card being referred to was a card inside the book showing a due date. That’s pure speculation.

Here is how a typical manual system (before computerization) worked:

When I checked out books as a kid in New York in the 1950s, as I recall they would put the book, open to the card holder page, and your library card together in a machine that would photograph them both together. This would provide their record of who had checked out the book. They would put a stamped card in the pocket in the book to let you know when it was due. IIRC correctly, they retained the card that was in the pocket in the book in a file. (I would guess they were filed by due date.) When you brought the book back, they could find the card in the file to see if it was overdue. They could also look up overdue books and match them to the photo to see who had them out.

The report shown in the original post in this thread is from the Secret Service. They would have most likely reviewed the microfilms of the library to determine which books were checked out by LHO. With this type of system, the due date is what would have been stamped on the card and photographed. With this type of system, there was no record of when the books were actually returned. The due date is what was recorded. Whoever wrote the SS list used the word return instead of due. You are arguing semantics.