Library cats are domesticated

cat The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of ...

s that live in

public libraries A public library is a library that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also civil servants. There are five fundamenta ...

worldwide. The association of cats with libraries continued from the Middle Ages up to the present day. Contemporary library cats have also been featured in film and literature.

History

The relationship between cats and libraries is centuries old. Monastic records from the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

indicate cats were kept in medieval monasteries in order to control rats that might otherwise eat valuable manuscripts.

Modern examples

In 1745, Russian

Empress Elisabeth Elizabeth Petrovna (russian: Елизаве́та (Елисаве́та) Петро́вна) (), also known as Yelisaveta or Elizaveta, reigned as Empress of Russia from 1741 until her death in 1762. She remains one of the most popular Russian ...

published an order to transport cats to her court. The descendants of these cats now live in the

State Hermitage The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the largest ...

museum. During the nineteenth century, the British government compensated those libraries that housed cats, on the understanding that they kept rodents away from books. Library cats have appeared as characters in books and movies, are immortalized in stone in front of their institutions, and some are given positions on the institution's board. Many cats enjoy high-profile professional roles of marketing and public relations. The relationship between libraries and cats is at times contentious. In one case, there were attempts to remove a cat from a library, based upon concerns of patrons with allergies claiming violations of the

Americans with Disabilities Act The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ...

. Another considered removal was because of the library cat's reaction to

service animal Various definitions exist for a service animal. The Americans with Disabilities Act defines the term as "dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities". Dogs are the most common service animals, havi ...

s. When a library cat was removed from its institution in Putnam Valley, New York, the institution suffered financially. Two members of the community were so upset about the removal that they deleted bequests to the library from their wills, producing an $80,000 loss in potential revenue. The Library Cat Society, a now defunct organization, was established in 1987 to encourage the establishment, respect, and recognition of library cats. The society included dozens of member libraries that exchanged information about their cats, and published a newsletter about them. The anthology ''Cats, Librarians, and Libraries: Essays for and About the Library Cat Society'' explored this relationship. The lives of library cats were studied by Gary Roma, a documentarian who produced a film entitled ''Puss in Books: Adventures of the Library Cat''. According to Roma's website, there are more than 800 cataloged library cats worldwide. The catalog indicates that many of them have since died. Additionally, cats are often found in

independent bookstore An independent bookstore is a retail bookstore which is independently owned. Usually, independent stores consist of only a single actual store (although there are some multi-store independents). They may be structured as sole proprietorships, cl ...

s throughout the United States.

Benefits

Library cats have been used to befriend patrons, boost librarian morale, and inspire reading and literacy programs. Cats can also be useful for marketing campaigns, and are frequently used to generate publicity for their libraries, particularly on social media.Kroski, E. (2014).
A quick guide to library cats
. ''Open Education Database'' (OEDb). Retrieved 29 March 2015. The presence of a cat can create a relaxed environment and ease daily stress for patrons and librarians alike, but usually without the typically disruptive loud noises other animals (e.g., dogs) may produce. Cats' generally independent nature may also suit the intellectual environment of a library, as they are low-maintenance and may more readily suit the otherwise preoccupied intellectual personalities who frequent libraries.

Famous example

Dewey Readmore Books Dewey Readmore Books (November 18, 1987 – November 29, 2006) was the library cat of the Spencer, Iowa, Public Library. Having been abandoned in the library's drop box in January 1988, he was adopted by the library and gained local attention for ...

is perhaps the most famous library cat. He lived in Iowa's Spencer Public Library for 19 years. After his death, a

book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical arr ...

was published about him, and later a number of follow-up books. White Settlement City Council voted to removed library cat Browser from White Settlement Public Library in 2016, but reversed their decision after an international backlash.

References

External links

Purr 'n' Fur Featuring Felines: Library Cats

* ttp://www.pinterest.com/alahqlibrary/library-cats/ Library Cats–

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with 49,727 members a ...

Pinterest Pinterest is an American image sharing and social media service designed to enable saving and discovery of information (specifically "ideas") on the internet using images, and on a smaller scale, animated GIFs and videos, in the form of pinboard ...

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