Animal Adoption
Lake County Animal Shelter staff with two sweet dogs available for adoption.
Photo courtesy of the Lake County Animal Shelter.
A new partnership
George Taylor, Lake County Library System (LCLS) Director, and Whitney Boylston, Lake County Florida Animal Shelter Director, happened to sit next to each other at a meeting. The two struck up a conversation and decided to establish a year-long partnership between the library and the animal shelter.
Their first planned partnership event was pet adoption during National Library Week in April 2021. Library cardholders were able to adopt any animal, such as cats, dogs or pigs, from the shelter, with adoption fees waived.
Won’t you take me home?
Photo courtesy of the Lake County Animal Shelter.
Community feedback
Community feedback about this event was extremely positive.
Thirty-seven pets were adopted, with 20 of those adoptions by library cardholders.
There were 100 visitors on one day during the partnership event. This event raised awareness of both organizations’ missions to serve the public.
LCLS staff learned more about the Lake County Animal Shelter, including its in-house library used to read to animals. In turn, the Lake County Animal Shelter learned more about LCLS programs such as the library’s PAWS reading therapy dogs. Keri Lyttle, LCLS Program Specialist, said, “This [knowledge] empowers staff from both departments to better educate the public about the overall resources that the county provides.”
The Lake County Animal Shelter has a Cat Library
where visitors can read to cats (and other animals).
Photo courtesy of the Lake County Animal Shelter.
Whitney Boylston, Lake County Florida Animal Shelter Director, added, “We love interdepartmental partnerships. Anytime we have an opportunity to spread the word about pet adoption to an increased audience, it furthers our life-saving mission.”
LCLS hopes to continue the fee-waived adoption event with the animal shelter during annual National Library Week. Two additional partnership events are forthcoming--a pet food drive in May and pet adoption vans in June and July at all 16 Lake County libraries. These visits will highlight the “Tails & Tales” Summer Reading Program theme.
