Library Cat Adorably Dresses Up in Cute Costumes to Promote the Library
As cat lovers, you've heard of Caturday before, the day of the week we all relentlessly celebrate all things cat! Well, the Centre County Library in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, has also heard of this beloved cat-centered "holiday."
At this Pennsylvania library, bibliographic services assistant Lisa Shaffer dresses up her cat Horatio every Saturday (Caturday) in adorable, elaborate, and hilarious costumes to help promote the library. Lisa makes the costumes for her cat Horatio herself!
If, even as a cat-crazed person yourself, you are wondering why Lisa does this, the answer is quite simple. Lisa noticed that her beloved library had virtually no social media presence and set out to fix that, with her sweet cat Horatio on board.
Lisa asked her supervisor if she could "share pictures of her cats dressed up as famous characters from literature and pop culture."
Her supervisor gave the okay, and Lisa got to work, resulting in posts that are equal parts hilarious and adorable. The creativity is undeniable.
Lisa said:
"I just started taking random books that would be interesting to highlight."
She added:
"Or if it was an author’s birthday or the anniversary of some event, I would get a picture of one of my cats, mostly Horatio, and it just kind of went from there."
As I'm sure you and I were expecting, Lisa's idea was a hit, and the posts were wildly successful.
Horatio is such a great model that the library now has over 6,000 followers on Instagram.
Now, Lisa, Horatio, and the library are all committed to staying on top of this clever task on a weekly basis.
Every week, Lisa picks a new topic and gets to work. Horatio is a very patient cat.
Horatio's costumes can vary significantly from very simple to quite complex, but they're always pawesome.
Lisa has also mentioned that Horatio isn't the biggest fan of crowds, so he doesn't do in-person meet-and-greets, but he's very easy for her to "work" with.
Lisa sincerely loves her beloved Horatio.
"He’s an 11-year-old tabby, and he’s just such a gentle soul, I think. He’s just so, so sweet. I think he’s also a bit of a ham too. When we do our ‘photo shoots,’ as I like to call them, for Caturday, he really does seem to know what’s going on."
The way Lisa sees it, when "you connect with the library, you connect with literacy, and that’s our mission."
Check out this cute video of Horatio!
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