You may have realised by now that I'm a complete and utter sucker for pets. Particularly cats and dogs. I have always had them growing up and am constantly amazed by some of the stories you hear about them. I was surfing the net today, looking up some books that I wanted and came across Dewey (The book that is). Dewey is, of course, a biography of a cat that lives in a library in America. It got me thinking on what people actually thought about the idea of having a cat in a library. (Or any other animal for that matter)
Library cats are, obviously, cats who live in libraries or cats which live with a library worker who brings them into the library. The 'Iron Frog Productions" website (as of 2009) lists 301 current library cats around the world. While most are located in America, there are a few in Australia!
You can read all about Dewey here if you're interested. Or go and get the book from your local library and have a read. It's a truly wonderful story.
Personally, I'm a huge fan of library cats. Of course, there is the sheer enjoyment and comedy that only a cat can provide, but having a cat in a library could be quite helpful for the elderly who live alone or even providing children with education on how to treat animals. I know there are issues that make people against the idea, but there is evidence that it can be effective. And can provide endless entertainment.
So, what do YOU think? Would you go to a library that had a resident cat? Would you work in a library that had a resident cat?
Gary Roma. (n.d). Library Cats Map. In Iron Frog Productions. Retrieved June 21, 2010, from http://www.ironfrog.com/catsmap.html.
2 comments:
I would love to work any where that had a cat, but what about those people that only like dogs? Are there any out there or just people that dont like animals at all. What about those with allergies?
My girlfriend got me the book when she found out that I had started my library studies.
Di :-)
Allergies would be the major problem. Of course, if a library was looking for a cat they could always go for the non-allergic breeds. I suppose they aren't forcing you to like animals, you could probably avoid it if you wanted to, but animals are everywhere, surely people wouldn't be too concerned.
Our library had a junior book club a couple of weeks ago and one of the staff brought their dog along. So dogs could always come in sometimes! =)
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