A library in Worcester, Massachusetts will scratch during the month of March certain fees off a book borrower’s record in exchange for a picture of the person’s cat — or any cat, for that matter, The New York Post reported.
The goal is to encourage people to read and visit the library, even if they owe money for a lost or damaged book, it said.
“People are struggling and sometimes choosing between paying for that book that, literally, your dog ate for $30 or buying $30 worth of groceries — those are two very different things,” Jason Homer, executive director of the Worcester Public Library, told Fox News Digital.
“And, people do have priorities. So we want to come to them with kindness, with forgiveness and say, ‘Just be part of our community.’”
It’s called the “Feline Fee Forgiveness” program — all part of the library’s month-long “March Meowness” event.
It aims to reduce barriers to returning to the library, regardless of a person’s circumstances.
And Homer and his staff thought, What better way to welcome people than with soft, cuddly cats?
“A librarian is a book lover, a cardigan lover and a cat lover,” Homer said.
“Our staff has a lot of cats. Some of the staff were in a meeting and they were coming up with ways to bring people back to the library, and they thought, ‘What if we removed as many barriers as possible and told people they could show us a picture of a cat, draw a picture of a cat or just tell us about a cat?'”
