Friday, November 22, 2019
By popular demand, a set of calendars created in support of the United Way are headed for a second printing. Who’s a good buddy? 2020 features the cats and dogs of University of Waterloo Library and have proved popular across campus.
The idea came from Digital Repositories Librarian Jordan Hale, who was inspired to create the calendars after a friend compiled photos of pet friends into a calendar as a gift. Jordan solicited photos of Library staff pets over the summer and received contributions from across all Library departments, even meeting new people along the way. Jordan then worked with Library Associate Carmen Peters on content strategy, captions and logistics.
Not wanting to play favourites, Jordan and Carmen sourced cover photos from the Kitchener-Waterloo Record Photographic Negative Collection in Special Collections & Archives, which they say was one of their favourite parts of the process.
“I saw multiple black cat photoshoots for Friday the 13th, a dog walking another dog on a leash, a cat with a chicken best friend…it was delightful.” But nothing beats the story behind the April page of the dog calendar – if you see our Director of organizational services, Sharon Lamont, around campus, be sure to ask her about Angus!
Jordan Hale and Carmen Peters worked together to publish Who's a good buddy? 2020.
A self-declared cat person, Jordan recognizes that many people are either Team Cat or Team Dog, and created a calendar for each…though a hedgehog snuck in there, too! The one and only human in the calendar is Myan, shown playing baseball with the Library’s therapy dog Lexi, thanks to Buddy League Canada.
While some of these pets may never leave their homes, their images are travelling far and wide as calendars make their way towards Washington, D.C. and New York City. The images may travel even further, as they will eventually be uploaded to the Waterloo Digital Library for online access around the world.
With W Print donating some of the printing costs, the two departments have already raised over $1800 for the University’s United Way campaign. Help us increase that number! Orders for Who’s a good buddy? 2020 calendars are open until December 6, 2019. Calendars cost $15 each, delivery is free across campus and to any Ontario university in time for Christmas!
Get a sneak peek:
