World of cats meets real cat: My thoughts on the ultimate library quilt

Meow, I’m back. I’m here to tell you that those crafty OCLC Quilters are at it again, making a cat quilt.

For the third year in a row (that’s, like, 21 years in cat time), the OCLC Quilters have created a quilt for some human “silent auction fundraiser” thing. Apparently, it raises money to support the Christopher Hoy/ERT Scholarship Fund, which awards a $5,000 scholarship to a human studying to be a librarian. Whatever. The important part is that this has 132 unique cat blocks. That’s enough cats for me to nap with a different one every day for months. And even better—most blocks feature cat fabric! Can you believe it? Humans actually make fabric with cats on it. Who knew there was so much cat fabric, and that OCLC people have it!

My human tells me this is a “redux” of the 2023 “World of Cats” quilt (I call it “more cats, please!”) My human said the quilters decided to make this quilt again because many librarians love cats. Obviously. We’re both sophisticated, enjoy quiet spaces, and occasionally knock things off of shelves. Even the quilt backing is cat- and book-related, with images of classic books like “The Great Catsby.” And there’s also something called a “pun” about WorldCat. I didn’t completely understand that, but my human said WorldCat is the world’s most comprehensive database of information about library collections. I don’t read, but that sounds cool.

Humans attending the American Library Association annual conference in Philadelphia can bid on it and take it home. The quilt is colorful and really comfy. I’ve thoroughly tested this quilt for quality control—kneaded it, napped on it, and found it quite luxurious. You’re welcome.

Eighteen OCLC employees and retirees contributed to the quilt. My human says it was a fun way to work with others at OCLC—she babbles about something called “collaboration” and that the quilt is “scrappy,” using lots of different fabrics from each quilter’s “fabric stash.” All I know is that they combined forces to create the ultimate cat celebration, measuring approximately 66″ x 72″—that’s big enough for at least five cats to nap without touching each other! The OCLC quilt joins others contributed by the ALA Biblioquilters, a group of quilt makers who work in or with libraries when they could be home petting their cats instead.

I left some fur on the quilt. But no hairballs.

Thanks to my human co-worker, Senior Program Officer Rebecca Bryant, for assistance with this post. Check out my other blog posts.