Oct. 26, 2006

Library update: Cyber Cafe area

BY JON MOFFETT
jrm001@marietta.edu

The first sign of the new library, no pun intended, is now visible in the field between Dawes Memorial Library, and the McDonough Center for Business and Leadership.

Like a movie marquee, the sign reads, “Library and Center for Teaching Excellence. Groundbreaking Spring 2007: Opening January 2009.” Although nothing physical has been started, this sign gives Marietta students hope that the first stages of the new library’s construction are almost upon them.

The Marcolian has been covering the new library and giving students the opportunity to take a look at some of the individual portions that will make up the overall library. Last issue, readers were given a glimpse of the new Center for Teaching Excellence portion of the library, and this issue will focus on the Cyber Cafe.

The Cyber Cafe will closely resemble many of the coffee shops within traditional bookstores. For example, think of the eatery area inside of your local Borders bookstore. The Cyber Cafe will try to emulate the type of atmosphere created by those areas. The same types of foods and drinks will be served, in hopes that students will find comfort there.

Doug Anderson, the Director of the Library, commented, “this is something that we’re really eager to do. We’ve wanted to do this for quite some time now. Students are apparently quite interested in this because of the feedback that we’ve received. We hope that this is something that will draw more students into the library.”

Some of the features that may draw these students in are the products that will be offered. The Cyber Cafe, much like Izzy’s or Gilman Express, hopes to offer students a wide variety of selections to tempt their tastebuds. It will offer ‘Grab-n-Go’ sandwiches, soups, salads, and other snacks as well as, of course, Seattle’s Best coffee products.

Dr. Lon Vickers, Dean of Students, said that the school and Chartwell’s dining services are working close together to come up with a plan that will allow for students to utilize the new Cafe area with their meal exchange plans and declining balance.

One of the ideas tossed around is the idea of totally removing ‘time zones’ for meals. This would eliminate the hours for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and give students leeway on when they wanted to get which meal. Students would get three swipes for a day, but could use them whenever they wanted.

“If they want to swipe three times for breakfast, so be it,” commented Vickers.

The current plan is to have the area open 24 hours a day, seven days a week for students. The cafe will have a separate entrance from the actual library, which will allow it to stay open during hours that the library is not. This will give students the opportunity of a 24-hour study space on campus.

Although the space would be open all day every day, the food services will still have hours of operation. Dining service staff will be in the cafe for the regular hours, which are yet to be determined. This brings up the question about what will be available to the students to eat during off hours.

“We’d like to get vending machines in there. But not just candy or what have you; we’d like to see the kind where you can get a Hot Pocket or pre-made sandwich and just be able to microwave it and have it ready for you,” noted Vickers.

Due to constraints with space, whatever food is available will not actually be made at the cafe, but rather at Gilman. The food will then be brought over daily to be served. Along with spatial issues, there was the issue of ventilation.

“I’m sure students would much rather smell the aroma of coffee in the library than a grill,” joked Vickers.