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Coffee / Refreshment area within the library space Many thanks to all those who replied to my email. A summary of the replies is given below. One of the replies also pointed me to a useful paper by ARL(Association of Research Libraries) in the USA on managing food and drink in libraries (http://palimpsest.stanford.edu/byorg/arl/237fly.html). The original message seemed to arouse strong feelings either for or against the idea. Some archived discussion on MedLib in America was equally polarised. On the whole users seem to like of studying and drinking a coffee and I definitely feel that the idea merits serious consideration in my own Information Services Centre. Replies about refreshment facilties fell into the following areas: 1. Coffee area under consideration as a way of managing food and drink issues in large undergraduate populations. In some cases students have requested these facilities. 2. Refreshment area provided within library space - one was in a newly refurbished university LRC. It is popular as a study area and it is also an area where users eating, drinking, chatting, using mobiles can be directed. Seen to be good at reducing staff-user conflict but also good PR. Extra cleaning support has been needed and the area can get messy but considered to be worth it. Another example had been in place for 9 or 10 years and was not particularly attractive. Users generally good about keeping coffee to a designated area. 3. Small information services. The original message was posted on lis-link and lis-medical so there are some examples from small professional libraries without the problems of intensive undergraduate use. They aimed to increase user friendliness and often allowed coffee anywhere in the library. In some cases librarians themselves provided coffee for users and made a small charge or asked for a donation. None of these had problems with spillage or damage. 4. Withdrawal of refreshment facilities. This example came from a FE College where the associated mess and high noise levels became unacceptable. 5. Refreshment area located from hard copy stock. There were some examples (one from Germany) of facilities being provided in reprographic or similar area away from printed materials. These were also popular. 6. There were a few examples from public libraries. Few spillage problems and facilities make a profit. 7. Barriers to refreshment provision - these were largely based around funding for some refurbishment, practical problems such as access to plumbing and conflicts with local catering facilities. All of the examples above are based around automatic dispensing machines for drinks and snacks. ************************************************************** Jean Yeoh Information Services Centre Manager King's College London Denmark Hill Campus Weston Education Centre Bessemer Road London SE5 9RJ Tel: 020 7848 5554 Fax:020 7848 5550 [log in to unmask]