Why I'll never become a librarian or why librarians love cats

I work in a library. I am not a librarian though. Not that there's anything wrong with being a librarian. It just isn't for me. I do want to see my books in libraries one day. That will be really cool.

Perhaps one thing preventing me from being a librarian is that I hate cats. I'm a dog person. And even if I wasn't, I'd still dislike cats. It's almost like an unwritten code that librarians must love cats. I'm sure they don't tell you that in library school, but they may use subtle hints, such as:


-An impromptu performance of Cats by the professor and senior staff

-The professor not saying a word but silently petting his cat "whiskers" for the entire hour

-A painting of a group of cats playing poker

You know, subtle stuff.


Now, it is a fact that most librarians prefer cats. But how long has that been the case? And why? These questions came up during a conversation with my wife (We talk about everything). So, I did a little research on the subject.

It is recorded that in the Middle Ages, monks domesticated cats and employed them in monasteries to prevent rats from eating their manuscripts. Also, in the 1800s the British government paid libraries to house cats in order to prevent rodents from eating the books.

But the history of cats and libraries goes way back to ancient Egypt. Back then, certain cats were trained to stop mice and serpents from entering the Egyptian temples. In these scared places, many manuscripts have been unearthed. The cats not only protected the Egyptians from disease by the rodents, but they also protected their precious manuscripts.

Even with all that history, I still don't like cats. But that's okay. I'm not planning on enrolling in Library School.