Library Cats

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Folio the Library Cat (affectionately known as "Foley") opened the 2015 ALA annual conference and exhibition in San Francisco with a hearty "meow." 

It is a long standing tradition with the ALA for a library cat to open the annual conference, and this is Folio's eighth year doing so. Folio lives at the ALA's national headquarters in Washerst, PA, the birthplace of America's greatest poet, Emmett Lee Dickinson (Emily Dickinson's third cousin, twice removed -- at her request.)

There are many other library cats across the nation.  There are an estimated 119,729 libraries in the United States, and 87.3% of them have cat mascots that live in the library.  72.6 of the libraries with cats have multiple cats.  As a matter of fact, 22.8% of those libraries have more than 10 cats.

The most common names of library cats are Dewey, Shakespeare, Stacks, Whispurr, Pages and Browser.  "Folio" is the 23rd most popular name for a library cat.

If you're ever in Washerst, PA, be sure to stop by the national headquarters of the ALA and say to "hello" to Folio. You can't miss the building (pictured at the right) -- there's a statue of Emmett Lee Dickinson atop a high pedestal outside the main entrance!

Be sure to stop by the Emmett Lee Dickinson Museum (above the coin-op Laundromat on Dickinson Boulevard) too.  You can see all of the fascinating memorabilia and noteworthy artifacts from Dickinson's life -- and get your laundry done too!