New Cafe Space Available In North Adams Library
 The North Adams Public Library has opened a cafe in Mrs. Blackinton's former sitting room. Patrons are being offered free coffee this week as part of the opening. |
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Library patrons with coffee and snacks will no longer be turned away at the door with the implementation of a new cafe space.
Library Director Mindy Hackner said the library trustees have been tossing around the idea since spring because they felt a good amount of people were being "shushed away."
"We are always shooing people out of here when they have their coffee because it stains the carpet and the carpet is terribly expensive to have cleaned," Hackner said. "So instead of turning people away at the door, the trustees started tossing around the idea of having a place where coffee was welcomed."
Hackner added recent patron surveys also point to the need for community space where neighbors can gather in a relaxed environment
The cafe is located in what had been the director's office because there is no carpeting; Hackner has moved her office to the center room near circulation.
She said the trustees discussed putting a cafe space on the third floor where there is a small kitchenette, but the library does not have staff to patrol the upper levels.
Coffee is served for free this week in the room that Hackner said used to be Mrs. Blackinton's sitting room "where she entertained her guests while Mr. Blackinton entertained his in the front room." Hackner said she felt Sarah Blackinton would be pleased with the new use of the space.
Newspapers and magazines have been placed in the room for patrons to persuse and the furniture was purchased through a quilt raffle.
Hackner hopes to "warm up" the room with more furniture, lighting, and a carpet. She would like to enter into an agreement with a community partner in the future who has a catering license and can serve a different variety of coffee more professionally.
"We want to see if we can get someone to bring in coffee from like 9 to 1," she said. "We thought we would finish the space first and show it to people and they can decide to see if it will work."
Hackner said so far she has seen a positive reaction from the library's patrons and that the new space represents a push toward a library that can also serve as a community center.
"People go into many coffee shops with their devices and they aren't really welcomed to stay there for a great length of time so this is kind of a need," she said. "A lot of libraries are moving in this direction. It is part of that whole library as a community center kind of thing."
She said the library is rolling out more digital content such as Zinio, a downloadable magazine client and the new Commonwealth e-Book Collection that allows the library to take a less traditional approach to the "buttoned-down library of old."
She said in the future she wants to install charging stations for people's mobile devices so they feel more comfortable using them in the library and consuming the digital content.
Hackner invited residents to come to the library and enjoy the "free, strong coffee" this week and she said she looks forward to expanding the space.
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