The Centered Librarian has pointed to these pictures of bookstore cats which is fun. It makes me wonder if anyone has collected pictures of library cats (real ones in libraries as pets or to keep the mouse population down). It would be interesting to inventory the variety of live animals in libraries. School libraries have pets almost as a rule but I wonder what other types have. I’ve heard of reptiles, snakes, birds, dogs and cats. Tell me about your pets in the comments.
Catalog of Bookstore Cats
http://centeredlibrarian.blogspot.com/2012/02/catalog-of-bookstore-cats.html
“Ever wondered what is the collective term for a group of bookstore cats? We think it should be catalog. Incidentally, a clowder is the term for a group of ordinary cats and a kindle (yes, really) is a group of kittens. AbeBooks asked some of its booksellers to describe the cats that inhabit their bookshops and they now have a gallery of fine felines. Cats and literature have mixed well for a long, long time from T.S. Elliot’s Practical Cats to Edward Lear’s Pussy Cat and Dr Seuss’ Cat in the Hat. Take a tour around these wonderful bookish cats, their owners and their bookstores.”
Stephen
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There is a map of library cats here http://www.ironfrog.com/catsmap.html.
I have a Leonberger who visits the library presently and has many friends amongst the children and some of the older patrons. In the library where I am going he will be a part of the life at the library.
ITTR a “Library Cat Newsletter” which I’m sure ceased many years ago. Probably the cats, too, bless them, but maybe one or more of those libraries continued to keep one or more animal friends about. I’ll see if I can find out more about this newsletter for you, Stephen.
We need to find an article titled “Kitty Literate” by Bruce McCabe, a staff writer of the Boston Globe (ISSN 0743-1791). Dated 05/30/1998, page C1. Based on a smidgeon of text I saw in Summon, there was a “Library Cat Society” whose musings were reported in their “Library Cat Newsletter.” Once a librarian, always a librarian!
Closer. See Kitty literate
I used WorldCat to find libraries with bound holdings of the “Library Cat Newsletter.” From nearest to farthest from Toronto: Beatley Library, Simmons College (Boston, MA, 428 miles), UIUC (Urbana, IL, 519 miles) and the Minnesota Historical Society Library (St. Paul, MN, 684 miles). The newsletter was published in Sauk Centre, MN. The URL for the Great River Regional Library in Sauk Centre is http://www.griver.org/.
As close as I could get w/Google: http://www.brendans-island.com/JournalArchive/seasonarchive2006.htm.
The gift shop at St. Michael’s up on the north side gets inspected regularly by the facility’s resident cat, Sassy. I learned Sassy’s origins this week, thanks to one of my daughters.
A few years ago, a sick stray cat decided to follow a lady as she went to work at St. Mike’s. When the two arrived, the lady and some other of the staff noticed the cat, and the cat’s condition.
A trip to the vet helped bring the cat back to health, but the creature still didn’t have a home. Folks at St. Mike’s decided to adopt her, naming her Sassy. My daughter thinks that Sassy’s background explains why “she likes to be patted and played with so much – and doesn’t know what to do with a ball and a string.”
The URL for a picture of the cat that lives (lived?) in the gift shop of St. Mike’s on Brendan Island is http://www.brendans-island.com/images/journal/saukcentre061214stmichaelshospital.jpg
Well I’m an idiot. Put the phrase “library cat” into your favorite search engine (I used Bing, not my favorite but it happened to be available) and up comes two perfect URLs:
* http://www.moggies.co.uk/services/library_cats.html
and
* http://www.ironfrog.com/catsmap.html
More than anyone should know about this subject I think.
Indeed, the final answer from me tonight. Library cats in Canada:
* http://www.ironfrog.com/librarycatsmap/canada.html
Awesome! Like I always say, just ask a librarian.
I love the idea of having cats in libraries but where I live the idea seems not to have occurred to them. I will ask at the libraries that are my second home if they would consider adopting a homeless cat as their patron.
Hi Steven, Here is a direct link to our library cats! http://www.cazenoviapubliclibrary.org/cats.php
Alyssa
Trixie, the Independence Public Library’s library cat, has her own blog and facebook page! Trixie is one reason we are the 2012 Best Small Library in America!
http://trixiecat.wordpress.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Trixie-the-Library-Cat/212737342093844