Advent Quiz - Day 8

Question 8

Can you name each of these cats who were once library regulars?

1/

2/

Please post your answers as a comment below. 

Answer: 1. Bubbles  2. Seamus

Favourite Five

It's been a bit quiet round here lately, which is largely due to the fact we've started the first stages of preparing for our move to the new library. Extra training means we've often not been at our usual post behind the issue desk, though some of our colleagues from the Kirkwall Library have been enjoying a taste of life in Stromness in our absence. 

With our move to the new building looking like it will happen early in 2015 we are keen to  find ways of marking this momentous occasion. We came up with the idea of the 'New Chapter' project which will gather material for an exhibition celebrating the history of the old library, through stories, images, and archive material. 

Of course the history of the library in Stromness, as with any library,  is not just about the building, but is part of a wider community history which weaves together the stories of the people who have used and loved it. 

We would love to hear your stories and reflections on the library- perhaps you can still remember your favourite book you borrowed as a child? or have fond, or not so fond, memories of a particular librarian? can you help us name all the folk who lived in the upstairs flat? was there a library cat before Bubbles and Seamus?

Some of you may remember the exhibition on the official history of the building, which the wonderful staff of Orkney Archive put together for our centenary in 2005, this is now on display upstairs in the exhibition room so do come along and have a look. Alongside the exhibition we have set out paper for you to record your own stories of the library and to tell us about your favourite book in five words to be included as part of our 'Favourite Five' display (see the poster below for more details!)


So do please get in touch either by emailing stromness.library@orkney.gov.uk, give us a ring on 01856 850907, or pop past the library for a yarn - be part of the next chapter in the Stromness Library story. 

More friends from afar

Well dear readers we're feeling very cosmopolitan here in Stromness Library this week. Following our visit from Milli from Finland,  *waves at the Etela-Haaga Library folk*, we received a lovely email from Mike Goldstein  from America, who had visited us back in 2008. Mike sent us a lovely photo of Seamus, one of the cats who used to live next door to the library and adopted us as his second home.

We were delighted to hear from Mike, and asked if we could share his photo with you, in case anyone else remembers Seamus, or even had the dubious pleasure or being drooled on/ covered in ginger fur/ nuzzled/scratched/ or bitten by him. 

Seamus was quite a character with a bit of a split personality. He would rub himself affectionately against your legs or jump up on your lap to be petted, but could get very grumpy if you dared to shift him off a chair he had chosen for a nap. We even took to bringing in a pair of leather gardening-gloves to work,  in case he objected to being put out when it was time to go home!

Unfortunately Seamus' owners moved house, and following Bubbles' tragic accident we have been without a library cat for quite a while now. Maybe we will be adopted by one when we move to the new library?!

We were very interested to read about Mike's research at Cornell University, where he is Associate Professor of Psychology and Director of the Eleanor J. Gibson Laboratory of Developmental Psychology. His research focuses on  the development and evolution of communication, taking a comparative approach studying both human infants and songbirds, to try to better understand the mechanisms by which communicative development takes place.

We look forward to welcoming Mike back to Stromness in the future, as he plans to return to carry out research in Orkney. He is interested in studying the effect of a noisy environment on vocal learning, and hopes that making recordings of the seabird colonies in Orkney will help him to get an idea of the acoustic challenges faced by young birds in a large breeding colony. 

It is so lovely to hear from library visitors and blog readers from far afield - it really makes us feel like part of one big library family :-)

Bubbles Immortalised

Longstanding readers may remember our sadness when Bubbles the cat  met with an untimely end. She was a much loved visitor to the library, often to be found curled up on the issue desk - that's if she couldn't find a friendly lap to sleep on. 

One of her particular friends was the novelist Lucy Ellmann who was staying next door to the library while working on her novel. Bubbles made such an impression that she appears as a character in Lucy's latest work Mimi,  which was published this week by Bloomsbury. 

We are looking forward to reading Mimi, in which Bubbles appears as a stray cat, rescued from starvation in the Manhattan snow by the central character - plastic surgeon Harrison Hanafan. 

Picture: Phil Wilkinson from http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/books/features/lucy-ellmann-on-why-the-heroine-of-her-new-novel-makes-the-best-case-for-feminism-1-2794537

Described by Lesley McDowell in the Herald  as 'an early contender for 2013's Book of the Year' McDowell goes on to say that in Mimi  -  'Lucy Ellmann once again turns the comic novel into a work of the highest art.'  

There is also an interview with Lucy in the Books section of today's edition of The Scotsman Magazine, which is available to read online. 

We hope to welcome Lucy and her husband and fellow writer Todd McEwen, back to the library when they next visit Orkney and look forward to sharing memories of our mutual friend, now immortalised in print -   Bubbles, the cat who loved books. 

Remembering Bubbles

As some of you may know we recently lost one of our regular visitors in tragic circumstances, when Bubbles the cat was hit by a car as she crossed the road from her home to the library.

Bubbles was waiting at the door most days at opening time and was never happier than when she found a welcoming lap to curl up in for a bit of a stroke and a quick nap. In the absence of a suitable human cushion she would make herself at home on top of the library bag display on the counter or take up her vantage point on top of the printer.

Needless to say we were heartbroken to lose our faithful companion and still miss her cheerful meow, her happy purring, and even the cat fur on the chairs. We would like to share these photos of our friend as we will remember her, in some of her favourite spots in the library.