Submitted by dalzelh on May 1, 2008 - 11:32am
There should be a café inside the Library. The café should have space for meeting, studying and lounging. It should be a nice place to grab a snack and read a book.
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There should be a café inside the Library. The café should have space for meeting, studying and lounging. It should be a nice place to grab a snack and read a book.
LIBRARY CAFE - LIBRARY REPLY, August 2008
Wow! More controversial than we expected. At the current time discussion about a library cafe or coffee bar is centered around future renovations that are still a few years out. Many libraries now offer a spot within their complex like this and find first, that they are very popular spots for library users to cluster and also that they tend to be magnets for those eating food in the library anyway thus reducing food mess elsewhere.
Other comments posted in the blog referred to "Tony's" on the ground level of Haggard. Comments indicated users were happy to have it close at hand and outside the library space but also felt that it was sorely short of its potential. Comments favored adding cafe style seating to the area.
This area is outside of the control of the library. However I did mention these comments to the woman who manages that spot and her response was quite positive. This is a case where students need to make their desire heard by Sodexho.
Frank Haulgren
14 Days Coordinator
Two words
Open bar
NO Sodexo Cafe
I do not want a cafe in the library that is operated by sodexo or through someone that pays them to be there. I want an independant place that serves only quality, local, organic, and sustainable food.
No Cafe
You have a coffee stand in the same building, one across Red Square, one across the street... come on now, we can't be that lazy!
If you're looking for a more relaxing, casual place why not try the Underground? Or Viking Union, or Viking Commons... all less than 5 minutes away.
No Cafe
There is not enough space to add quiet areas, couches, group meeting rooms, more books, AND a cafe. The priority should be a functioning, useful library, not a homey, comfy social setting.
No Cafe
Go ahead and make the cafe in Haggard bigger, open later, etc. Don't put in the library itself. There's already precious-little space in busy hours and it is the *only* library on campus. For cafes you have the V.U. Market, the Underground and many others.
i agree
there are cafes all over campus. if you want some coffee plan ahead and get some before going to the library.
and tony's coffee is in the same building. you dont' even have to go outside to get it.
No Cafe
I put my vote in for more books and quiet spaces in the library. There are lots of places on campus for meeting and eating.
hmmm
While I like the idea of an area in which you could have some snacks, (sometimes you need some sugar/munchies when cramming), the idea of an eatery or even a specific place to eat sounds like it would add to much noise to a library that is poorly designed to handle noise already.
no cafe in the library
I just want to add to the comment made about the gross chewing and eating sounds that everyone would likely hear if there were a cafe-
I want the library to be a place where i can go and relax,not where i can go and pig out while listening to the latest tunes with my pals. lame.
More space for books, or more help from librarians is what we need, not another starbucks.
Cafe, No Way
I agree, I do not want yet another convenience coffee stand near the library. How many places can one get coffee within a five minute walk as it is? I think it is a waste of resources.
Cafe
I think it would be really cool to have a set aside space to have coffee and do homework at the library. The trouble with studying at other coffee places on campus is that if you need to look something up in a book or periodical you can't do it at the Underground or the Atrium.
As to the complaint that there is already a coffee place at Haggard, why couldn't that one be closed down in favor of the one in the library? You could just have all the people from the old one work in the new one.
However, if there were a coffee shop in the library the eating would have to be restricted to the shop space.
But it really makes sense to have one. Book stores have coffee places so why not the library?
Library café
While I definitely support the library being open 24 hours, there is already a coffee stand in Haggard Hall. How many do we really need in this school? It's a library, no commercial interests please. Get your coffee somewhere else:
The Underground Coffee House
The Atrium
The VU
Vendors Row
The Fairhaven Marketplace
Haggard Hall
etc.
library cafe
totally agree. we're already dealing with a nosie issue... why make it worse?
Ditto
It's challenging to find a place when you just want to chill, grab lunch, and get some homework done. It would be nice to have a library cafe, or even just more couches/nooks in order to sprawl.
Study areas are sometimes hard to find for groups. It would be great if we had more areas for groups to get together and not bother quietly studying neighbors.
And on another note, we should stick some more computers in the library. During prime time it's really hard to find a computer, even if it's just to print something.
Library Cafe-gross no
No cafe, people are too sloppy and would abuse the food allowance. I can picture myself right now sitting on somebody's bits of lunch. Or trying to read while hearing gross crunching and chewing noises. If it must be done, there should be a strict eating area. Which would defeat the purpose of a library. Eating should be done in the markets.
cafe?
I agree, do we really need another coffee stand. Come on, are you that lazy your can't go a few floors down? Plus, food in the library makes the desks/tables messy because those who have brought food into the library can't handle being clean. Other people use those places for studying too!
Agree! Take a short walk to get your coffee and snack from study
There is a place to get food in the same building as the library. There are no good reasons to sell food inside of the library after we have the cafe in Haggard Hall.
Take a walk from stressful study is better after we sit at desk or computer for hours.
I think there should be a
I think there should be a specific area for food. You can always say "no food beyond this point" And a 24 hour area to study would be nice as well .. or at least later than midnight. Lastly, but most importantly, I think there needs to be a specific place where groups can meet and talk without feeling like they are going to disturb someone around them, or have to go searching for a spare room to collaborate in (it's really necessary for smaller study groups)>
I think that the idea of an
I think that the idea of an all night study area is both valid and necessary. I don't know how many times I have been kicked out of the library at midnight, working on homework.
maybe not such a good idea
No food in the library please.
Maybe...
I could see a small "eating/studying" section in the library, that way people wouldn't get crud on all the books, and could eat in the library. I think the café is a great idea also.
A cafe would be a great
A cafe would be a great idea, it would make the library seem a little warmer, and give a place for people to meet and talk, thus not disturbing other people that are quietly studying in the library.
If a full service cafe isn't available, Tony's Coffee should at least be open later, so we can maintain our caffeine fix.
If you make a cafe make it good
I know I would use a cafe. It would make studying at night just that much easier.
with that in mind I would appreciate it if this hypothetical cafe sold food I wouldn't feel guilty about eating (ie more than muffins and overpriced sandwiches).
I am not saying add an extra cafe, just maybe expand the HH one, with a better menu that is maybe open after Miller and the VU close.
24, but not cafe
I think the cafe idea sounds like a little much. There are already 5 places to get coffee and lots of places to take it. I don't think it should be the library's responsibility to provide beverages when there is a place a floor or two down that will do the same thing. That money and staff is better spent on the other idea that people seem to like on this comment, that the library should be open more.
I really like the sound of a
I really like the sound of a 24 hour cafe to study at, whether it be in the library proper or an expansion of Tony's. However, I agree with other people that food should not be allowed in the library at large.
I sit on the dining services committee and was taken aback at the proposal of a cafe concept in a library. After I had a chance to think about it though I came to like the idea. If students have a place to study and eat, wouldn't it be easier to enforce the no-eating policy in the rest of the library? Right now there is no alternative except for eating where you're not allowed to. Yes, it would be difficult at first to establish the boundaries between where you can and cannot eat, but if the library staff works hard the first quarter it should be possible to set a precedent and protect the rest of the library's resources.
Again, a 24-hour place would be amazing. There is no where on campus that isn't locked up after midnight.
Awesome idea
Love the 24-hour comfy cafe idea! The 24 hour computer lab downstairs just doesn't work for me...
24-Hour SMALL CAFE - LOTS of SEATING.
No need for the cafe to be huge, it's the SEATING area around the cafe in the library. tables and chairs, not so many huge chairs, but come on. We need STUDY ROOM. And how many people need study room at 2 am with a coffee in hand.
I just did a focus group that spent a lot of time realizing how much time we students like to get our work done being night owls at 2am.
Yes yes yes
I think a cafe would be awesome, maybe even a little sitting area for those who don't want to go far w/ the food and stuff. I haven't had any problems personally w/ food and dirtiness around the library, but I have experienced the frustration of needed coffee in the wee hours of the morning and not having anywhere to go!
I love ths social nature of our library. There are a lot of comments about having a quieter library, but I think there should just be some quieter areas if anything.I've never been in such a friendly library, and I like there are a lot of different people who hang out there. I think a cafe could make it even homier.
24 hour cafe
I agree with the cafe idea, it would be so awesome to be able to grab coffee at 2 am during finals week, and be able to study somewhere other than your room. As for all the trash in the rest of the library, it seems like there is already a problem with that, so is having a cafe and making the library accessible at all hours really going to drastically change that?
great idea about 24 hour
great idea about 24 hour section and cafe. This campus seems to simply shut down after certain hours and if there was a place to go and study comfortably after hours that would be an incedible asset to the campus life here.
I just don't like the idea
I just don't like the idea of having more food in the library. I already have to deal with gum, coffe cups and their sticky brown rings (all OVER the computer carrels), crumbs from chips and crackers, drips from ice cream--seriously, who thought ice cream in a place full of books was a good idea?--and so on. People eat their dinners in the microform section and make the tables gross. I know people are hungry, but books are fragile, and when I check something out that somebody's dribbled on and gotten all sticky, I just want to scream. We have Tony's in the basement of Haggard--that's close enough, though it needs more/better seating and maybe some real food.
Couldn't Agree More
I think having a cafe in the library would only add more problems to the mix.
Also, seeing as though food of any kind AND open drinks aren't allowed in the library in the first place, I see having a cafe as problematic. I know you may be hungry, but mixing food and drink with OLD periodicals or especially microfiche/microfilm is a terrible combo.
Ditto
The Library absolutely needs to be open later than it is, if not 24/7. However, adding a cafe section? this is a library, not a place to have a equivelant to what some college student would call a meal. Go ahead and expand Tony's Downstairs, that's a great idea, but don't put food in the library!
hours and food
I'm ok with the library hours Sunday through Thursday. I want the library to be open later on Friday and Saturday nights (until midnight is fine with me). I like idea of the expansion of Tony's Coffee (but I'm not sure if the library has any control of that). The library needs to make sure that their bathroom's feminine hygeine machines work. I have more to say but it'll come to me...
General reccomendations
Having a section of the library that is open 24 hours would be amazing, along with a cafe. Although there are computer labs open all night long, a good, comfortable place to study would be great. Having the South Campus return boxes would also be awesome- this would also help you guys out, because students will be more likely to turn books in on time. BETTER couches and better, cleaner more study friendly environment lighting in general. More periodicals.