Jeffrey Quick's Blog

Libraries and Starbucks

There's an interesting article about the 30 or so college libraries that have set up a Starbucks franchise within the library.

USF reports an average 147,512 additional patrons a year have used the library since Starbucks opened in it four years ago.

I have to wonder whether they've used the library or whether they've walked in the door to use the Starbucks. What are the circulation and reference stats here?

At the Cal State Long Beach Starbucks, "Every seat is usually taken," says Roman Kochan, library dean. Spillage and book damage have actually declined since students no longer are hiding food and drinks in their packs, he says.

I'm dubious, but if you say so... Predictably, there's the puritanical hang-wringing:

Several years ago, Louisiana State University talked with Starbucks about locating in the library. "A few people felt this was commercialization of academic space," says Jennifer Cargill, dean of libraries at LSU. Instead, a local chain, Community Coffee, went in, and objections disappeared.

Some question whether Starbucks belongs inside the icon of academia.

"The library ought to be the one place that reflects the university's mission and purpose and should be protected from commercial influences," says Robert Weissman, managing director at Commercial Alert, a consumer group.

I'd be more in favor of local coffee myself, but it would depend on the results of competitive bidding. As for Commercial Alert, I'd never heard of them before, and I can't say I'm impressed.

At Commercial Alert, we stand up for the idea that some things are too important to be for sale. Not our children. Not our health. Not our minds. Not our schools. Not our values. Not the integrity of our governments.

CA thinks that rather than health etc. being for sale, they should (through a government proxy) simply take it. If you can't sell it, you don't own it. At some universities, if the library "reflects the university's mission and purpose", it would have a bar in it. As for "commercialization of academic space", it was academia that pioneered the notion of "naming rights". Granted, most donors are selling their posthumous reputation rather than a product. But I've seen things in academic libraries that sound very much like "Quicken Loans Arena".

I'm actually neutral on coffee in libraries, except as a preservation issue. I'm of the antediluvian belief that libraries are primarily book warehouses, and electronic resources just make the warehouse bigger. You study in the library because that's where the books are. If coffee helps that (and it does, for me), I'm all for it. If it's there to create a "social center", I'm dubious, because scholarship is ultimately a solitary endeavor. My job is to get information to people, not to manage a profit center, run a dating service, or be a food vendor.