Hoover library welcomes four-legged employee

By JON ANDERSON

The staff at the Hoover Public Library has grown to 98 employees over the years, and soon the library will be adding a different kind of employee — one with four legs.

The newest employee, who already is in training, is a 1-year-old standard poodle named Libby. This summer she will become the library’s new facility dog.

Her job will be to make the library a more welcoming place — to be a soothing and calming presence — for both staff and library patrons, library director Amanda Borden said.

One of the primary tasks will be a program that allows children to read to Libby. Some studies have indicated that young children who read out loud to dogs improved their reading skills. Borden said there’s something about reading to a dog that raises the confidence level of children and helps them read better.

But on a more general level, just having a dog in the library helps make it a more inviting atmosphere, Borden said. Dogs help reduce stress and anxiety for many people, she said.

In addition to being at the library, Libby will be used in library outreach at schools and senior centers and be an ambassador for the library at other events.

Libby comes to the library from a dog breeder in Jasper whose business is called Fitzgerald Standard Poodles. She is being trained by a fairly new nonprofit called FIDOS Facility Dogs, based in Bluff Park.

A facility dog is different from a service dog, said Kelly Schaeffer, FIDOS executive director. A service dog is trained to do specific tasks for someone who is disabled to help mitigate that person’s disability, but a facility dog is trained to console and love anyone and everyone who visits a particular facility, Schaeffer said.

Many schools have facility dogs, but Borden said she is not aware of any public libraries that have them, so she’s proud to bring Libby on board at the Hoover Public Library.

Libby had a meet-and-greet time with library staff in December and already has started six months of training to get her adjusted to the library and familiar with the staff. One librarian, Wendy Geist, will be her primary handler and will take Libby into her home.

Geist has worked at the library for 23 years. She spent the past 17 years as a teen librarian but recently moved into the marketing and program librarian role and said she looks forward to bringing Libby into her life and into the library.

She loves animals, and “who wouldn’t want to live with this dog?” Geist said.

Three other librarians are going through special training to be co-handlers, and a few others, including Borden, are going through training to work with Libby as well.

Borden’s husband, Allen Borden, is a veterinarian and has agreed to provide medical care for Libby at no charge. The library did give a $12,000 donation to FIDOS to cover the care and training for Libby and library staff, with one-third of the money coming from the Friends of the Hoover Library group, one-third coming from the Hoover Public Library Foundation and the rest coming from fundraisers, Borden said.

The library will continue to have fundraisers to help pay for Libby’s food and grooming, she said.

Schaeffer has been getting Libby accustomed to different areas of the library, including the elevator and stairs and different floor surfaces, as well as accustomed to being around children and large crowds of people. She also is being trained to identify colors, which children find fun when reading to dogs, and not to approach people unless given permission, Schaeffer said.

Libby, the Hoover Public Library's new facility dog, gets some attention at a meetand-greet reception with library staff on Dec. 15. At right is Wendy Geist, a librarian who will become Libby's primary handler.

“She’s really smart,” Schaeffer said. “She learns really fast.”

Borden said she saw how students at Spain Park High School love the police dog, Ace, who works there, and when Spain Park librarian and Hoover Councilman Casey Middlebrooks introduced the idea of a facility dog to her, she loved it.

“I can’t believe she’s going to be here every day,” Borden said. “My job just got 1,000 times better.”