I do not know if I would consider coffee shops inside the library as smart marketing, but I do know that we need to do all that we can to continue attracting our users. As a reference librarian for a university located in an economically impoverished area, higher education is crucial to our children. Therefore, libraries and librarians must not remain the university's best kept secret. We must stay visible and if opening a coffee bar in your library works for you, then why not try it. As with anything innovative, there will be changes and other factors that have to be worked out. I am not suggesting by any means that we all jump into the coffee bar scence. There are ways to incorporate the concept without adding the nightclub or coffeehouse atomsphere. We as librarians have all had to make changes somewhere along the line due to an ever changing society (i.e. automation). We need to look at this as just another evolutionary turn in our society.

-- Mantra Henderson, reference librarian, Mississippi Valley State University (posted 11/12, 12:00 p.m., U.S. Eastern time)

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