This is not a heartwarming tale of good-hearted librarians adopting a stray cat and naming it Dewey. It does involve a library–the tiny Winslow Public Library in Arizona–and some cats. It’s a long story as to how I heard about this troublesome situation, but suffice it to say that it involves good friends of mine who have strong ties to this small Navajo reservation town and a close relationship with the librarian there. One of the friends recently visited the library on a trip to Santa Fe, and was told that the latest teen “amusement” is to round up a couple of stray cats at night and slide them through the book drop. The staff arriving in the morning find the cats wandering around the library, apparently unharmed, but not necessarily 
pleased to be stuck in the library. So my friend reports that the librarian is trying to think of something that would allow large-ish items through (think children’s and oversized books), but not allow cats to slide through. There are absolutely no funds for purchasing a new cat-proof book drop system even if there is such a thing, so perhaps some clever device could do the trick. If you have any ideas, I guess you should contact the folks in Winslow.
Maybe there is an upside to this situation: I’ll bet the Winslow library is about as rodent-free as a place could be.
Barbara L.