Spoticus Birthday Week

2002  

Scott Carter in MAC created two six-foot stand-ups depicting a dalmatian with multi-colored spots. These were part of the promotion of the new Family Place program launched at MC and DN. The stand-ups were very popular with customers and eventually all libraries received one. Until Aug 2003, he was known only as “the dalmatian”. 

In June, an Embark bus was wrapped in black and featured advertising and several multi-color spotted dalmatians.  

The whole premise of the campaign is based on an embarrassing and confusing misunderstanding of age-old proverbs. The first stand-ups had the tagline "Change Your Library, Read at the Library." And the press release for the bus described it as, “The black bus sprinkled with dalmatians of a different color urges bystanders to "Change Your Life" by reading or working on their financial future. It has been said the color of a dalmation's spots is as unalterable as the stripes on a tiger, and the metaphor is often used to demonstrate that some things can never change.” Besides having two major grammatical errors (e.g. a bus cannot sprinkle things), the ancient proverbs refer to a leopard’s inability to change its spots, not dalmatians. And why would we use a metaphor that describes the impossibility of changing to encourage people to change? And how does reading in a library building change the library? [yes, by the way, I can be re-annoyed after 18 years].  

2003 – A “name the dalmatian” contest was held during Summer Reading featuring submissions from SRP participants.  

The winning name was announced at the annual Library Night at the Ballpark which traditionally concluded SRP. The Name the Library Dalmatian contest was narrowed down to the top ten names, and last two weeks of SRP, people have been placed their votes for their favorite finalist. Eight-year-old Nathanael Fronko from the Edmond Library coined the winning name, Spoticus. For his creative efforts, he won a DVD player and three children’s DVD movies. 

The mascot costumes (one tall, one short) were constructed by Marjorie Ainsworth of Mascots, Etc. in Oklahoma City. 

Spoticus costume debuted at the annual DN Christmas party in Dec 2003. Construction Manager Todd Olberding was the first to don the head.  

The public debut of the Spoticus costume was Spoticus Day, Feb 10, 2004 at the Choctaw Library grand opening. Spoticus was played by Kim Edwards, DN. 

Spoticus appearances were scheduled thru the old Speakers Bureau In 2007, thanks to new air conditioning, Spoticus actually walked the HeartWalk alongside MLS staff 

In 2007, Spoticus met Darth Vader at SoonerCon 

In 2009, Spoticus joined other MLS staff in costume in the first annual Ghouls Gone Wild Halloween parade in Downtown OKC 

In 2011 Spoticus moved from MAC to Library Operations 

n 2017 Spoticus met Clifford the Big Red Dog at the launch of ReadOKC