For me, the hardest reviews to write are about books I have enjoyed the most. This was true of "Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World". We in the library world have known about Dewey for quite a while. "Library Journal" and other library publications wrote about him over the years. A few years ago, I was on the verge of going to the Human Society and picking up a "Dewey" for our library. Our library had mouse problems. Unfortunately, one of our librarians has a cat allergy. I settled for fish, but truthfully, they aren’t much help with the mice.

Dewey lived at the Spencer Public Library in Spencer, Iowa. His full name was Dewey Readmore Books. The Dewey part of his name was in honor of Melville Dewey, the patron saint of the Dewey Decimal System. Library Director Vicki Myron discovered Dewey in the book drop one frigid winter night in 1988. As Myron states in the book, finding odd items in the book drop is not unusual. All librarians know this, but we don’t advertise this because we don’t want to give anyone ideas. Finding a kitten in the book drop is unusual. (One cold morning we found a carp. What is it about this library and fish?)

Anyway, there was this half frozen, filthy ball of orange fur, which immediately wiggled and snuggled his way into the hearts of the library staff and then into the hearts of the Spencer community. After Library Director Myron investigated possible ordinances against having a cat in the library, Dewey found a home.

Throughout the book, Myron intersperses tales (no pun intended) of Dewey with the economic and social history of Spencer, Iowa, as well as her own inspiring story. A single mother, Vicki Myron survived a bad marriage, lived on welfare, and overcame serious health problems to land her dream job as Director of the Spencer Public Library. Along the way she became the first person from her family to earn both a Bachelor’s Degree and then a Masters in Library Science. Life was good, but finding Dewey only made life better.

Dewey enchanted the library staff and the town of Spencer. He loved people and greeted patrons as they came in the door and often hopped in their laps when they read. Not everyone was delighted with Dewey’s attention, but they tolerated it; however, he had a knack for knowing which people needed to snuggle. Story Time children loved him. In one tender situation he brought a severely disabled child out of her shell.

Dewey wasn’t perfect. He had a rubber band obsession and was incorrigible when it came to the snappy bands. Library staff trained themselves to hide all rubber bands. When a careless employee left a desk drawer open, Dewey returned later to wiggle his way into the drawer, disturb nothing; however, in the morning all the rubber bands were missing. No drawer left open was safe from him, and the litter box was proof of where the rubber bands had gone.

"Dewey" is as much a book about how a library enriches a community as it is about an adorable cat. Myron’s love for her profession is evident throughout. Honestly, many librarians feel we were "called" to this profession. When she describes a "great library", Vicki Myron speaks for many of us in the library profession and very likely library patrons everywhere. She says a great library is, "…enmeshed in the life of a community in a way that makes it indispensable." People frequently do not notice it because it is always there, providing what people need.

I hope this review gives readers a glimpse of how much "Dewey" touched me. If you enjoyed, "Marley and Me", read "Dewey: The Small-town Library Cat Who Touched the World" but keep a box of tissues close at hand. It is available at "Your Community Living Room", the Scottsbluff Public Library.

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