University Park, Pa. -- Step into the club repair room of the Blue Golf Course on the University Park campus and head golf professional Joe Hughes can show you tables full of orphaned golf clubs found on the fairways. At last count, there were at least 500, all neatly logged by name, date, make and model and cross-referenced in a journal at the pro shop.
"We started keeping good accurate records since 2000," he said, estimating that the pile of clubs is growing at about 100 a year.
Those golf clubs will soon be on their way to Salvage Services to be sold to the public as part of the implementation of a University-wide lost-and-found policy, according to Willard Gallaher, manager of Salvage and Surplus. The policy, written last fall, sets up a comprehensive procedure to deal with lost and abandoned items on University property. Still to come is a Web-based tracking system that will inventory and record disposition of all unclaimed property turned in to University repositories.
Given that approximately 80,000 students and about 20,000 faculty and staff spend the better part of each week traipsing across the campuses lugging backpacks and briefcases, it's no surprise that things get left behind. Stacks of stray clothing, notebooks, cell phones, watches and jewelry are stored in cabinets at the HUB information desk, awaiting claims. Other high profile repositories are the computer labs, University Police, Beaver Stadium, The Bryce Jordan Center, Eisenhower Auditorium and Pattee and Paterno libraries.
The volume of material, as well as inconsistency in its handling, prompted the University to set up a committee to decide how the items are to be processed. Deborah Meder, assistant controller, chaired the committee of 15 that represented the Office of Physical Plant, Human Resources, Police Services, The Bryce Jordan Center, Eisenhower Auditorium, the libraries, housing, athletics, information technology and student affairs.
Their goal was to define a systematic process to handle found items, as well as to follow state regulations, which require that many types of unclaimed property be turned over to the commonwealth. That includes money, jewelry, toys and other items of value.
"We have to make sure we are following state law," Meder said. "We do have to account for certain items."
The policy, which applies to all the campuses, sets the amount of time an unclaimed item is kept, designates lost-and-found repositories in each administrative unit and named Salvage and Surplus as the conduit for materials that must be transmitted to the state.
It also helped deem what items are termed "valueless," for unclaimed property purposes, but which might benefit local charity groups. For instance, abandoned clothing can be bagged and sent to Goodwill; orphaned umbrellas can be sent to United Way; and unclaimed eyeglasses can be sent to the Lions Club for its charity programs. Textbooks are turned in to the Penn State Bookstore for Book Buy-Back with plans for the proceeds to be designated for scholarship purposes.
According to the policy, Salvage can sell abandoned electronic equipment, power tools and bike helmets as well as other items of tangible value. Proceeds will go to a scholarship fund. Other items that Salvage and Surplus cannot sell may be donated to the Trash to Treasure sale room, which raises funds for the United Way. The sale room, located behind Salvage off Big Hollow Road near University Drive, will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Jan. 24.
Gallaher said Salvage and Surplus could begin selling items to the public by the end of the first quarter of 2004.
Police dispatcher recorder Christopher Brace estimated that a little more than half of the items turned in to University Police were returned to the owners. "If a wallet has ID, it's easy to return," he said.
"We get everything," he said. A recent examination of the lost-and- found bins turned up a stack of clothing, cell phones, wallets, a pair of crutches and a glittering array of watches. Not too long ago, a set of dentures turned up at Beaver Stadium. The roving choppers were reunited with their rightful owner, Brace said.
Brace estimated he puts in 25 to 40 hours a semester filling out paperwork and trying to reunited people with their lost items.
"The last football game I worked eight hours just categorizing and packing up this stuff," he said.
Al Matyasovsky, supervisor of labor and equipment in the Physical Plant, said he hoped that the policy would save the University money spent in trash dumping fees. "My goal is to keep some of this stuff out of the landfills," he said.
To check out University regulations on lost-and-found items, go to http://guru.psu.edu/policies/Ad13.html online.
For pictures of some of the lost-and-found items, go to http://live.psu.edu/still_life/12_11_03_lostfound/index.html