A campus cat lost his library privileges but gained quite the internet fame.
Meet Max the cat!
Max spent his early years wandering the streets until one day he was picked up by a rescue group and adopted by a kind-hearted woman, Connie Lipton, in Saint Paul, Minnesota. But his love for meeting new friends never diminished.
Max's human dad is a teacher at Macalester College, which is just across a small street. Every day when he heads out to work, Max begs to come with. Eventually, the couple gave in and let their sweet ginger boy check out the campus and hang out with all the people he'd been so eager to meet.
Within a short period of time, Max had made countless friends across campus. He joined students on the lawn and popped into their dorms to send some support and meows. He even stopped by department buildings for a surprise visit according to the Washington Post. Max never failed to put a smile on people's faces.
Max loves people and can't get enough of their attention. He is constantly socializing. If someone is walking by, he will come up to them and greet them with headbumps. Students adore him, and Max loves them, too. However, there's one place that Max has trouble getting in.
After he decided to enter the Macalester College library, he kept going back. Because of his stealthy gait, library staff started to worry that they might accidentally lock him inside overnight. Also, one of the employees is severely allergic, so they regretfully had to make the library an off-limit zone for the campus cat.
When Christopher Schommer, an employee at the library, returned after a 3-month parental leave, he quickly learned about Max's saga. One of his duties is signage, so he decided to update the old sign with a new poster that would be so easy to read that even a three year old child could understand.
Little did he know that the poster soon went viral after a photo was posted on reddit and twitter.
People began to show their support for little Max. "Max just wants to read!" reddit user surferratfish said.
"Not only would I let Max in, I would have already had a miniature library card issued in his name and affixed to a fine collar," reddit user OhNoCosmo wrote.
Several people stepped up to make library cards for Max.
"Please allow this kind and gentle soul the right to good literature that he deserves more than anyone," @SevinthStreams said.
Finn wrote a poem for Max via twitter:
"It seemed unjust to me that Max was not allowed to browse the stacks! So I set out to make it right, with pen and paper, desk and light. I filed the forms. It wasn't hard. And now Max has a library card."
Rachel Suzanna, a children's illustrator, designed a library card for Max.
Due to a major construction project that recently went underway on campus, Max's outdoor adventures had to be put on hold. The ginger boy was not thrilled about it.
He cried and begged to go back, waiting and looking out the windows.
The couple couldn't bear seeing Max sad, so they came up with an idea.
To avoid getting Max in messy places during construction, they would be taking walks with Max on a leash with a harness so the ginger boy would be able to see his friends and do what he loves.
Many students and faculty members of Macalester College missed their feline buddy. Some came to visit him at his abode, and it was a wonderful surprise to the sweet kitty.
Max may have lost his library privileges but he's determined to head back on campus so he can once again bring purrs and snuggles to his human friends.
The library may be off-limit to Max right now, but a local book store in St. Paul has invited Max to their estate to visit and hang out. "We can't wait to take Max there once he's on leash," Connie said.
For now, Max has inspired many illustrators for an idea of a children's book.
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