Comments on: more thoughts on a cafe branch

By: prada transformer opens | walking paper

prada transformer opens | walking paper — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 09:00:29 +0000

[...] have been interested in libraries using slightly alternative form factors for a little while (more thoughts on a cafe branch, also see Nate Hill’s library outpost) and I’m increasingly interested in library [...]

By: Aaron

Aaron — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 14:13:08 +0000

Glad you like the idea! It is something I’d really like to pursue.

By: Christina

Christina — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 14:12:13 +0000

Okay, so I’ve read this post very carefully several times and am still in love with the idea. What many librarians, as well as staff misunderstand is the term “service.” We are librarians and in this vocation we give service and if that means in serving our community we serve coffee alongside of it, then so be it, because it is our duty. An information professional should understand that forward thinking is a gift and an oportunity to create and re-create, even if there is failure. If the cafe branch fails, then you take a step back, re-evaluate by collecting data and statistics on what made it fail and then apply alternatives for a possibility of success. Please continue to posts your insigts, as it slowly curves the mentalities of those who are boxed.

By: Liz

Liz — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 20:09:29 +0000

Howdy! I’m the blogger who linked to your piece and used it as an example of library as rhizome. Well, I thought of your cafe post again today as I read the press release of the Contra Costa County Library announcing that it will offer ATM-style book lending machines at certain Bay Area Rapid Transit stations. Pretty nifty, eh? Cafes, train stations–the library could definitely go viral. Here is the link: http://ccclib.org/press_releases/library-a-go-go.html

Cheers ;)

By: Reca Washington

Reca Washington — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 19:41:55 +0000

This is genius, brilliant, I love it! This is a strategic plan that libraries should be headed towards in the near future. Small subunits within the city attracting the tons of foot traffic found in major cities, oh and a place to drop off the books I checked out at the major/larger branch. Sweet I love it.

By: Laura

Laura — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:45:48 +0000

I like the idea (I would love such a service as a library patron, and I don’t think it would be half bad as a librarian)–but I think I would like it even better if it were combined with some kind of library branch/outreach spot in a less privileged area.

The most recent Pew study (about how young, affluent people are heavy library users) worries me. I’m not opposed to serving young, affluent sectors of the population, in part because they are part of our tax base and are good advocates to for libraries. But I worry that serving them further will take our services away from those sectors of the population who need them most.

By: Alan Kirk Gray

Alan Kirk Gray — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 11:52:01 +0000

Aaron: Darien is a pretty small place, and we’re building a new library with a cafe in it, so wouldn’t want to dilute that focal point in the new building right away.

But, “just thinking while typing,” I wonder if we couldn’t open up our first “branch” in a neighboring library’s community by taking your idea and plunking it down there :-)

Here’s where I think it would work (all kidding aside): if your library has a brand or attribute — friendly service, “extreme” customer service, great collection, insightful reference staff, fast fill rate, drop dead fantastic readers advisory, whatever — and you want to get it into the public eye, so more community residents visit the library, take that attribute to the cafe branch. Don’t make the cafe branch a symbol that you can’t make it as a library, make it a symbol of what you do really well.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 20:12:17 +0000

@anonymous-
thanks for the report. i’m glad the the coffee shop in your branch is having more success. i really think that having the entire branch BE the coffee shop could work too.

@Alan-
would it play in Darien? :) i’m glad you like the idea. my only issue with it is that it is the speculation of a librarian. granted, it takes into account how some people use the library and is therefore at least slightly user-generated.

i’d sure like to see some feedback from the public about this. if the survey describes the cafe branch, it could conceivably not even contain the word “library.” if there was a large enough sample to use, it would be interesting to administer one survey with library language in it, and one without to see the difference in reaction. (just thinking while typing there).

By: Alan Kirk Gray

Alan Kirk Gray — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 19:33:35 +0000

I think you should emphasize even more the ability to make and pick up reserves as a way to extend the library’s reach (BTW, our patrons sure know what a reserve is rather than a hold — and I bet we use “hold” in a way that most people would think of as negative: “I’m sorry, someone else has a hold on that, you can’t have it.”)

But even more importantly, what a great laboratory for testing and figuring out how to serve “niches”, as you call them — what I think of as the relatively small groups of community members with similar interests down the Long Tail somewhere. Jeff Bezos, in another context, calls them the “hard middle” — sets of prospective customers for books or other items he wants to sell (in our case a service or an interest we want to satisfy) that you must find a way to communicate the availability of without the expense, overhead and waste of broadcasting to everyone.

Alan

By: anonymous librarian

anonymous librarian — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 00:43:39 +0000

We did this at our Main Library and the coffee bar quickly went away. Now the coffee bar is in a branch and having a little more success. My suggestion, if you are going to do this do it right! We outsourced this and the people who run the bar come and go as they please and the patrons get upset because the hours are unreliable. Also once you start allowing food and drinks in the library from the coffee bar, people will start bringing in bagged lunches, McDonalds, and everything under the sun. Some staff did not mind this but others did. So now we’ve gone from the traditional library model to the coffee shop model and back again to the traditional model complete with no food and drink signs prominently posted at eye level on the front doors! I think it can work but you have to be willing to plan it out and do it right!

By: Aaron

Aaron — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 20:57:02 +0000

Awesome. So that makes two of us ready to sign up. Now we just need a willing library system to let us carry out this plan!

By: sarah

sarah — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 20:22:27 +0000

i love it! and while i didn’t get my masters degree in order to serve coffee, i do often fantasize about leaving the library behind and becoming a barista. i’d love to pull espresso while providing readers advisory!