MEOW: CATS IN LIBRARIES

Martin, Jeanette
ET-New Trends

Ford, A. (2017, Jan. & feb.). Library Cats Leave Some Sneezing, Others Feline Fine: Libraries face hard choices as resident kitties grow scarcer. American Libraries, 48(#1/2), 18-20. doi:https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2017/01/03/library-cats-leave-some-sneezing-others-feline-fine/

This article talks about feral cats sneaking into libraries and making the libraries their home. In 2006, there were over 200 cats living in public libraries. The calming effect of the feline as well as the publicity having generated by having a library cat, has been welcoming in most libraries. However, due to allergies by patrons and complaints by some board members the count is down to 39 library cats across the country. 

As a child I was very lonely and my only solace was books. I can't imagine the joy I would have found if the library had housed a cat as well. This article was a great joy for me to read and emphasized how much an animal can bring to a learning environment. In the past I have read to a dog days in the library. Service dogs are brought to the library and our special education children pet them and read stories with them. The smiles on their faces is priceless. I have brought the service dogs into the library for our general education kids. I had no idea what an effect it would have on them. Our students are going through some horrendous things in their lives that I only hear whispers off. The animals bring a great joy to the library, the students and the school. I wish I could have a library cat. Then this place would be the cat's meow.