An Interactive Map of Library Cats

By John Farrier in Animals & Pets on Apr 30, 2009 at 3:20 pm

Way back in the day when I was in library school in Ohio, there was a slowly dying tradition in rural libraries of hosting “library cats.” These were cats that lived full-time in libraries, most public. Well, Gary Roma of Iron Frog Productions has created a worldwide historical archive of library cats and organized them around an interactive map, giving the names, locations, and dates of residents for individual cats. It’s a work in progress, so if you know of a cat that isn’t mentioned, be sure to let him know.

Link

Image via flickr user TVLshac

Tags: cats, Iron Frog Productions, libraries, library cats

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earbox
Apr 30th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
No library dogs, huh?

– likes libraries, loves bookstores, is allergic to cats
Gary Roma
Apr 30th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
Earbox,

I found one library dog in the research I did for my film about library cats (“Puss in Books: Adventures of the Library Cat”). It was a very large dog that came to work each day at the library in Norfolk, CT in the 1990′s.
Ann Schubert
Apr 30th, 2009 at 6:37 pm
May the tradition never die out.
Idil
Apr 30th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
ahhh, people forget how terrible cats are for those who have allergies to them =(
Larry
Apr 30th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
I have not found the list yet. Does it include Dewey?
Craig
May 1st, 2009 at 9:14 am
My town has an awesome little independent record store that feels like an old bookstore inside (crammed shelves, handwritten signs, people sitting on the floor going through boxes), and they used to have a “record store cat” who was always there, sleeping on top of the CDs. You’d have to nudge him aside if he was on the section you wanted to look at.
ted
May 1st, 2009 at 9:37 am
When I was in Naples once, there was a cat sleeping on a blanket atop some furniture in front of an antique store. He must have been the antique store cat.
Mouserz
May 1st, 2009 at 11:02 am
My old school had rats in the library
MetalMarx
May 3rd, 2009 at 2:43 pm
I just finished reading “Dewey: The small-town library cat who changed the world” and found it a quick and charming read. You can find information and pictures of Dewey on the Spencer Library website at spencerlibrary.com/deweybio.htm.
Luci
May 18th, 2009 at 11:25 pm
Getting caught up on posts, obviously I’m way behind. Library school is keeping me from my feed reader. John, did you go to library school at Kent?? I just started there in January.
Lauretta Lee
Jul 7th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
I just finished reading “Dewey, the Library Cat” and loved every word. I could barely see the words on the last few pages due to my tears. I have had a number of cats over the past many years. One looked a lot like Dewey and was ill at the end of her 19 years; I cried on the vet’s shoulder when he had to end her suffering.

Many thanks to you,Vicki, for writing this wonderful book.
nyawka
Jan 2nd, 2010 at 11:21 pm
Hey, does anyone know where I could possibly find a copy of the Puss in Books: Adventures of the Library Cat documentary? My daughter loves Dewey, and would love to see it…
Catherine Ebenezer
Jan 27th, 2010 at 6:37 pm
I have just finished “Dewey: The small-town library cat who changed the world”, too. It is a hauntingly wonderful book, though inevitably very sad at the end. As well as being the story of a remarkable cat, it is an interesting case study of a public library and its role within the community.

The library cats map is at http://www.ironfrog.com/catsmap.html. I cannot tell how recently it has been updated.

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