First she stole our hearts — now, the internet’s. Lucy “the library cat” is one of North Central College’s biggest stars. She’s a regular in students’ Snapchat stories and appears in social media across campus. The local tabby even has her own Instagram with over 2,500 followers. Now media giant BuzzFeed has picked up on her fame and featured her in one of their listicles.
In an article titled “13 Libraries Book Lovers Need To Follow On Instagram,” BuzzFeed author Kirby Beaton featured Oesterle Library’s Lucy at number 7 on her list, ranking her among Johns Hopkins’ George Peabody Library, the New York Public Library and Seoul’s Starfield Library, just to name a few.
Lucy was first documented here at the Chronicle in April 2017. About a week later, Oesterle Library (her favorite hangout spot) began their Instagram account featuring her, and the rest is history.
Unlike most library cats, Lucy isn’t a full-time resident at Oesterle. She often wanders between her neighborhood home and the school’s library. She mostly appears during the fall and spring terms, and cannot be found during the cold Chicago winter.
“We just love her,” said Diana Canna, cataloging and acquisitions assistant, who runs the account along with other library staffers. “She comes to the library frequently and we like it when she comes.”
“We’re all just taking pictures of her constantly and we thought we should do something with them,” she said.
When the staff realized that Lucy had been featured on BuzzFeed, “we were probably more excited than we should be.” Canna said. “Her followers jumped, like, 500 overnight.”
