Library cats are the stuff of legends, originally for controlling the rat population but more recently, well, just because every library should have one. Mine does. Here's a nice story from the Macon Telegraph:
At Wesleyan College's Willet Memorial Library, a bewhiskered, black-and-white furry form provides a special sort of security, stalking sidewalks to keep students safe from chipmunks and the occasional squirrel.Mostly, however, Squeakers the library cat provides animal-loving collegians the knowledge that, even though they can't have a cat in the dorms, they have one on campus.
"It's like our family pet," said Danielle Wickes-Smith, a first-year communications student from Hawaii. "She's really friendly, and she's there for you when you need someone to hang out with and no one else is around."
Not much of an academic, Squeakers nevertheless has spent more time near the stacks than just about any student. Though the 19-year-old shorthair has spent all her years at Wesleyan, Squeakers has been part of a historical tradition of library cats since coming nearly seven years ago to her current post outside the library entrance.
Even in the cold of winter or the hubbub of this holiday season, when students have abandoned books for family and friends, Squeakers is fed twice daily. Whether by library director Catherine Lee, a clerk or even campus police, she always gets her Fancy Feast.
"She really should have earned a degree by now," Wesleyan spokeswoman Ruth Sykes joked.
My cat Sammy (and Rainbow when she was alive) always plops herself down next to me while I read. There is something just so supremely comforting about that. And yes, I have read-aloud to my cats!
My son's wish is to be reincarnated as a bookstore cat. I'm sure a library would suit as well, but we have never lived in a community small enough that the powers that be would consider such acceptable.
Posted by: triticale at January 7, 2005 04:00 PM