
http://www.care2.com/greenliving/library-cats-a-heartwarming-story.html
Library Cats - A Heartwarming Story
Adapted from Kirsten Rosenberg‘s story in Speaking Out for Animals, Kim W. Stallwood, ed. (Lantern Books, 2001).
It was the winter of 1987, and a Minnesota blizzard swirled madly outside Phyllis Lahti’s home when she heard the pitiful cries of a cat outside her door.
Read the rest of this inspiring story, here:
Although the distressed tabby was covered with sores and bite marks, Phyllis recognized him as one of the street cats she regularly fed. Because her two resident cat companions made it clear they welcomed the formerly homeless feline about as much as a trip to the vet, the librarian took Royal Reggie (so named because of his “royal bearing,” says Phyllis) to live at her place of work, the Bryant Public Library in Sauk. There, he established himself as the library’s Cat in Residence, with the reference room being his preferred spot.
Although by no means the first cat to inhabit a library, Reggie served as the inspiration for Phyllis to found The Library Cat Society, whose dozens of member libraries have provided safe havens for many a cat left in library parking lots or dumped in book-return chutes. In the group’s newsletter, Phyllis describes the society’s aim: “to advocate the establishment of cats in libraries and recognize the need to respect and to care for library cats.”
As she wrote in the anthology, Cats, Librarians, and Libraries: Essays for and About the Library Cat Society, “The library office can, after all, serve as a refuge for the library cat. It should not lean toward the overly organized, and when possible it should have an inviting open desk or cabinet drawer for catnapping. It need not have a window box, but having one can be therapeutic, both for the cat who is reclining on it and the observer who is watching the cat.”
Do you know a library that could benefit from the addition of a Library Cat?
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6 comments
add your comment »Help us, I am on the library board in a small community. We have two wonderful library cats and we have one of our supporting townships that has decided that we are discriminating against those with allergies and demand that we get rid of them. We have hundreds of patrons that love them, but we are so limited in funding that we are afraid that they may withhold funds from us. What can we do!!
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What a wonderful idea for cats...
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Yes, I am going to try that in my community. I would be willing to stop by everyday and clean the litterbox. I will provide the litterbox and litter.
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Definitely! I have yet to see a library in WV or OH that has allowed one.
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I have two siamese id love to let live in a library they are sweet but both though neutered and spayed think they are supposed to be the only cat and like lots of personal space..
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Yes I know a libary that would benefit from the addition of a feline, the Edmonton Public Library (Riverbend).
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