Information Scotland The Journal of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland ISSN 1743-5471 Issue contents | Journal contents | About the online edition of the journal April 2003 Volume 1 (2)

Something to air

A load of froth?

Coffee draws new users, but Graeme Hawley urges you to look beyond high street names.

At some point over the last six or seven years, in amongst New Labour and the Internet, the most bemusing thing has occurred. I speak of the deification of coffee. It has become more than a hot drink. It is taking over the world, and now looks set to take over our libraries.

Increasingly the subject of journals and library discussion groups, the big question is whether the library should give up valuable space to house a coffee shop of some sort. And the answer seems to be a resounding yes.

Tracing the history of this largely American trend, it seems to be that bookstore chains such as Borders and Barnes & Noble have transformed customer expectations of what libraries should be like. And bookstores have relaxed so much now that many 'customers' are in fact using them as libraries, skimming through books over an hour or three, and then leaving without buying. Perhaps the only purchase they do make on their visit is a cappuccino and muffin. Coffee attracts.

So it would seem a good idea for libraries to wake up and smell those lucrative beans. They pull the people in and, unlike bookshops, our books aren't for sale anyway. Unless, of course, there is no proven correlation between coffee drinking and book reading; "To support the idea that having a café will increase circulation still is not conclusive. There is no quantitative data to validate this conclusion."[1]

Despite the wonderful feeling that we often get from developing and embracing new users, studies in America have found that often the extra visitors that come to the coffee shop have come just for the coffee. And is a library such a dismal place that we can only get people to attend by exploiting their caffeine addiction?

Of course, if coffee attracts any new users at all then it is a good thing. My opposition to coffee shop domination, therefore, is not a dislike of the concept, but of the execution. I am fed up of coffee, of the religion of it, and of the supposed artistry of taking five minutes to bang that chrome thing on the side of the espresso machine to empty out the sludge. It's really noisy.

Even more, I am fed up of the frothy franchises and their blitzkrieg marketing policy that has left no room for competition. And I am now concerned to see that they are finding their way into libraries with clever books for kids campaigns [2].

I consider high street outlets are the antithesis of social inclusion and community focus - the buzzphrases of the moment. The prices of these franchises are socially prohibitive, especially for families.

How do coffee shops fit in to the notion of joined up government? Education, health, the economy, crime, and social harmony are all to be addressed through a network of libraries, schools, health centres, and business communities. With a recent study showing that Glasgow and Edinburgh are the first and second fattest cities in the UK [3], how does sugar-intensive coffee shop fare tie in with concerns about obesity problems?

But through the vessel of the coffee shop libraries could do something really wonderful - if not a café run by a big chrome franchise. The venue could even become integral to the whole programme of social inclusion and community focus. It could be run by a local charity, an arts group, or just a local firm selling some lovely home baking. Your library, rather than hosting just one of dozens of identical outlets, could be the only place in Scotland where you can get a cup of tea and one of Mrs Magee's triple oatcake surprises.

These alternatives may not make the same returns as renting out your space to a big name, but what price bad publicity? In an attempt to modernise, it is important that libraries do not fall into the Cool Britannia trap. Equal in number to the young trendies who go to these places are others who object to the global chains' quest for profits. If we plan our libraries on what is cool now, let's not be too surprised when we are naff in 2008.

There are stumbling blocks. In an attempt to assess the viability of charity-run coffee shops, I spoke to the WRVS and Shelter. Gillian Osrin, from Shelter, said that they had not considered this option so far. Although the suggestion had a theoretical appeal, the logistics and health and safety issues of running a catering outlet were concerns and the practical appeal of a café was not immediate. Despite these issues, the charity sector is large, and could still provide options, as could small local catering firms.

If coffee is an effective way of attracting new users, then it seems that the argument for a café is clear. So lets have a coffee shop, but lets also take the opportunity to show why libraries are different from bookstores and the high street generally, and at the same time bolster the buzzphrases with some real action.

Graham Hawley is Cataloguer, National Library of Scotland.

References

1. A café or coffee bar in the public libraries. Realistic or Not?
2. www.rbkc.gov.uk/news/pressrelease/n020619c.asp
3. Britain's fattest cities, Mens Fitness, April 2003, p.70-77.

Selected reading:

A café or coffee bar in the public libraries. Realistic or Not? (http://members.tripod. com/~robyn64/Page3.htm)

Allegra Strategies. Market overview and key statistics: Project Cafe3. (www.allegra.co.uk/cafe3_overview.htm)

Carlson, Scott. The deserted library. (http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i12/12a03501.htm)

Clayton, Mark. Food for thought. (www.csmonitor.com/2002/0122/p12s01-lehl.html)

Johnson, Doug. Cafes, gift shops give public libraries a new image. (www.s-t.com/daily/06-00/06-04-00/e08li193.htm)

Welcome to the coffee cup. (www.librarysupportstaff.com/coffeelibs.html)

Many thanks also to Gavin Johnstone, NLS, for some suggested reading

Information Scotland Vol. 1 (2) April 2003

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