The new campaign at the Ponoka Jubilee Library is the cat’s meow among the staff and the public of Ponoka.
The campaign is a quest to see whether or not people who use the library think it’s a good idea or not to have a library cat.
The idea came about from a book titled ‘Dewey—the Small Town Library Cat that Touched the World, that has been a best seller for months.
The book is a true story about a library that found a cat in the book drop off box and adopted it as the library’s pet.
Norma-Jean Colquhour, manager, says that the relationship between cats and libraries are well established in folklore and history and believes that it would be a positive thing for the library to have a pet cat.
“We’re all cat lovers on staff,” said Colquhour. “I think it would be neat and that people would love to be greeted by a cat when they come in.”
She also says that many people living in seniors’ residents are not permitted to have a pet and that they would be able to visit the library to see a cat.
The campaign is to get a feel out there in the community on what individuals think about this idea.
“We’re asking for people to vote on this idea,” said Colquhour. “We’re not saying we’re going to get one, we just want to know what people think right now.”
If the library did get a cat, Colquhour says that they would be rescuing one, and that there would be no responsibility for maintainance from the community but that there would be a “kitty” to help take care of the cat.
The library would also give the cat a literary name to suit the library and be a mascot of the library and a friend to all who come in.
“It would be a nice, warm, furry presence,” said Colquhour.
This is the purr-fect opportunity to cast your vote on whether or not the library should adopt a cat by visiting the library and checking the yes or no box on the ballots at the front desk.