Reach more readers with magazines! With over 4,000 popular titles, there’s something for everyone to enjoy with magazines in Libby. Provide content for more of your community with titles in a variety of languages including Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, German, Arabic, French and more.And offering magazines in Libby is more affordable than you may think - you just pay one flat subscription fee based on your circulation. I stared at the pigeon, and it stared back, calm and content. It ruffled its feathers, and cooed softly. It didn’t look like it was going anywhere in a hurry. “Nope,” I thought, and headed downstairs, out of the library and across the road to the student union centre, where I got a coffee and processed the slight weirdness of my morning so far. I wasn’t the only person to see a pigeon in my university library. During my time there, I overheard several other students talking about them. In my uni town, the pigeons seemed to be constantly engaged in a turf war with the seagulls that lived along the docks, and I can only assume that the pigeons were trying to make up for being smaller and softer by honing their knowledge in the hope of finding some kind of tactical advantage. Or maybe they just liked literature. Libraries and animals don’t seem to go together, which is why I and the other students were so unsettled by the pigeons in our library. But despite many libraries being animal-free spaces, there are exceptions — and not only by accident. Some libraries have actively welcomed animals and integrated them into this bookish space, as part of the library service. Interacting with animals can help readers in a huge number of ways — although I still don’t completely trust the campus pigeons. Not every child has a pet at home, so a school or public library setting up a ‘read to animals’ programme can be an incredibly helpful way to encourage reluctant readers. There are also many other benefits of having animals in libraries, as several libraries have found. A Library Research Service article explores the use of therapy dogs in libraries; Havard, Yale, and Emory University all have therapy dogs that students can check out for a cuddle or a fuss if exam stress is getting to them. One of the world’s most famous library cats is Dewey Readmore Books, who was the official staff supervisor at the public library in Spencer, Iowa, from the late 1980s until his death in 2006. Dewey became an international sensation, the subject of several articles and documentaries, and the head librarian Vicki Myron wrote a book about his life, Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World. The University of Bath also has a library-based animal on staff. Professor Yoda the Owl protects the university’s library from local seagulls, often keeping them away just by being present. As a reward for his work, Yoda has been issued his own library card. While most libraries have a no-animal policy (with exceptions such as service animals belonging to library users), the examples above show that animals are often beneficial to both libraries and their users, even if they aren’t a traditional part of the library environment. For more innovative library schemes, try Not All Heroes Wear Capes: The Fairfield Library Introduces Work and Play Stations. For more on libraries that check out unusual loans, have a look at 5 Unexpected Items Your Library Will Lend You.
