Libraries Lure Patrons With Books, Biscotti

Shhhh!

It’s a familiar sound coming from behind the counter at the Springfield public library. Only this time, the source is not a shushing librarian--it’s an espresso machine.

Nearby, a woman crunches on her Caesar salad and thumbs through the latest John Grisham mystery. Two teens sip their caramel-flavored java as they peruse the periodicals. Down the hall, a man buys a bag of Edgar Allan Poe-pourri at the gift shop.

Sound more like a Barnes & Noble bookstore than the stuffy library from the days of old?

Library director Annie Busch certainly hopes so. “The library is no longer the dim, dusty place that you only visit if you have to,” Busch says. “It’s suddenly a pretty cool place to hang out.”

The 5-month-old Library Center in Springfield, which Busch describes as more of a community center, has been a hit. The district’s circulation has doubled. Close to 12,000 people walk through the doors each week, and more than 4,500 people a week use the center’s 11 meeting rooms.

“There was a time not too long ago when people were predicting libraries would no longer be needed in this Internet age,” Busch said. “I think we are proving them wrong.”

Libraries across the country have been experimenting with similar creative measures--coffee shops, gift stores, meeting rooms--in the face of competition from mega-bookstores and the Internet.

“It’s all about customer service. People are looking for destination and convenience. Why shouldn’t the library provide those things?” asked Harriet Henderson of the Public Library Assn. in Maryland. “It’s just like any other business. The customer comes first.”

Serving latte in the library has been done for years in Atlanta; Portland, Ore.; Milwaukee and elsewhere. The Los Angeles Public Library went a step further by incorporating a Chinese restaurant and a frozen yogurt stand.

But with the success of those cafes, the word has spread.

“We see people come here for the first time who can’t believe their eyes. They can’t believe we’re serving food and allowing them to carry it around,” says Lisa Masten, assistant director of the Newington Library in Connecticut, where the “Cup & Chaucer Cafe” has been serving biscotti and coffee for three years. “It’s not a huge moneymaker, but the people enjoy it.”

In Saratoga Springs, N.Y., a coffee vendor provides jazz music and couches in the library space that opened up after back issues of periodicals were put on computer disks.

“Kids go in there after school, and no one hassles them about being noisy,” said director Harry Dutcher.

Leo MacLeod, an entrepreneurial activities coordinator at the Multnomah County Library in Portland, Ore., predicts that by the year 2010, every public library in the country will have a coffee bar, or the last few will be scurrying to install them “to avoid being the last on the planet without one.”

In Springfield, the Churchill Cafe next to the checkout counter is just one of the added improvements that give patrons a reason to visit. There’s also a young adult room, a business center with computer training software, a room for local history and genealogy materials, and a gift shop where people can buy books.

“I absolutely love it here,” said Dolores Pennington, 74, who slurped a bowl of French onion soup during one of her twice-monthly trips. “I have been going to the library for a long time, and it’s never been this much fun.”

Younger people enjoy it too. Besides the five dozen computers where they can get their e-mail and chat-room fix, teens pack into the library on many Friday nights for “poetry slams,” music events and even karaoke.

Still, for the bookworms who insist on waiting for the bookmobile rather than risk being seen in public, the library hasn’t forgotten about you, Busch says.

The Library Center is one of 100 across the country experimenting this summer with electronic books and allowing cardholders to download novels through the Internet.

Patrons can also join the library’s “Best Sellers Club” and have their name automatically placed on a hold list for authors of their choosing. When the book arrives, the patron receives a call or an e-mail saying that it is ready to be picked up.

“Instead of shying away from the technology that was supposed to make us obsolete, we are embracing it,” says Busch, who reads Futurist magazine to see what new ideas she might incorporate into her $6-million facility.

Busch disputes the notion that she’s trying to compete with mega-bookstores like Barnes & Noble, which has expanded into larger quarters in Springfield within the last five years.

“I think readers’ expectations have changed with the presence of large bookstores, and libraries are just trying to keep up with those changes,” Busch says. “Luckily, there are still enough readers out there to keep us both busy.”

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On the Net: https://thelibrary.springfield.missouri.org/