Ocean Shores Library has cats

February 12, 11:14 AMSeattle Books ExaminerDanielle Dreger-Babbitt

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Image from Ocean SWhores Library website

Last week I talked about how cats seemed to be a prerequisite for used bookstores.  Does that hold true for public libraries as well?  The Ocean Shores Public Library in Ocean Shores, Washington in Grays Harbor County seems to think so.  Since the Library Board voted in favor of cats  in 1999, the Ocean Shores Library has had these furry friends on staff.

It was a film called "Puss and Books" about library cats that library technician Michelle Olson saw at a conference that gave her the idea.  She approached her boss, librarian Judy Stull, who encouraged her to survey patrons and then ask the Library Board.  Over 200 patrons responded;and all but two were in favor of adopting a cat for the library.

A calico cat was in need of a home, so the library adopted it.  A fund for cat food and supplies was set up as well.  The patrons suggested the name Trixie after the Trixie Belden detective novels for the new staff member. Trixie remained on staff  for five years.  Her job duty mostly included greeting visitors.

But one day, Olson came to work and found Trixie dead. The town grieved and Stull said no more cats. Eventually, the pressure from people in town and the staff increased and about two years later, Olson went to the local animal shelter, and adopted two cats who seemed especially friendly.

Now known as Waldo and Olivia, from children's books, they live in the library full time. Waldo is a young gray male and Olivia is a larger black female.

Ocean Shores isn't the only community in Washington to have had a library cat.  Booker was the resident cat at the Rainier Beach branch of the Seattle Public Library from 1990 until his death in 2001.  At the Timberland Regional Library in Hoodsport, Mason County, Marian was the library cat for seven years until her retirement last summer to the home of one of the library staff members.

Library cats aren't always welcome in libraries.  For every few patrons who love cats there seems to be a few who dislike them.  In the case of Booker, the cat at Rainier Beach patrons complained.  According to library staff 

People who were allergic, phobic or just didn't like cats protested, but the library's air-filtering system and the staff's willingness to lock the cat in a backroom when patrons objected seemed to override most complaints.

According to Gary Roma, the producer of "Puss and Books," 10 years ago there were about 125 library cats in the United States.  These days there are close to 700 library cats.  Library cats have definitely increased in popularity in the last few years.  There is even best-selling book called Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World, about a library cat in Spencer, Iowa that will soon become a Meryl Streep movie.

Maybe books and cats are a perfect match after all.