In what has to be the most brilliant idea to come out of a university law library since the “library coffee shop”, the smart folks up at Yale Law Library are checking out a cute wire-haired terrier named Monty. I love the idea!!  But, what about those of us (especially librarians) that are cat people? Bird people? Fish people? Turtle or reptilian people??  Where’s the love and diversity for those of us that don’t like dogs??

I think it is a great idea to bring in animals to check out for stress relief.  Imagine a partner is having a hard time with one of the clients… come on down to the library and pet Kikki the Cat, or watch the goldfish swim around, or take Fido out for a walk (we’ll even supply the plastic baggies!!)

I’m going to check with the powers-that-be around here and see if we can start a collection project to diversify stress-relieving animals in our library. I’ve got a request out to my sister-in-law to see if she’ll let me have the adorable fluffy little chicken she’s raising. Even if it doesn’t relieve stress levels, at least we’ll have eggs to help us to eat away the stress.

If we can’t get the diverse livestock in our library to help relieve stress and increase the amount of traffic in the law library, then I’m going back to my “Girl Band” idea.