Library puts feline online
Last updated 07:53 17/06/2011
MEGAN OTTO/East and Bays Courier
PART OF THE FURNITURE: Xena the cat spends her days at St Heliers Library lapping up attention from visitors and librarians, like Robyn Cowan.
Everyone knows libraries have books, but the St Heliers library also has the loan of a cat.
Not just any cat - this feline has her own Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Adventurous cat Xena Hope has for the past six years spent her days among books.
The 14-year-old cat comes from a loving home in nearby Devore Rd and every day after breakfast she begins a 2km walk to the library.
Here Xena waits by the library's back doors until staff arrive to let her in where she divides her time between the office and comfy reading chairs.
She spends most of her time at the library but has been seen heading for the nearby bank, video shop and fish and chip shop.
Her guardian Therese Hope says she is pleased Xena has company while she is at work.
Hope says it is not unusual for her cat to go walkabout, however the first time Xena wandered off to the library, Hope scoured the area for any sign of her missing cat.
She remembers continuing on to the library to return a book and found Xena there.
Hope supplies the library with cat food to encourage her pet to stay put and off the road while librarians and visitors also supplement her meals.
Staff often find cat biscuits left on Xena's favourite chairs in the large print section.
The librarians have created profiles for her on Twitter and Facebook, where her interests are listed as sleeping and eating and her activities include extreme road crossing.
Come closing time, the St Heliers' librarians have to find Xena and tip her off her chair. She knows what direction home is and usually gets back to her real home minutes before Hope returns.
- East And Bays Courier
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/5156542/Library-puts-feline-online
