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By Michele Chandler
Mercury News
It's easy to figure out where the new
Maui Wowi Hawaiian coffee and smoothie cafe is located
in the Evergreen branch of the San Jose Public Library.
Just walk past the children's section, head for the
information booth and follow the scent of toasting bagels
and the whir of a blender.
Maui Wowi, part of a Colorado-based chain, opened Friday
in the East San Jose library. The new cafe is riding
the growing trend of San Jose public libraries offering
full-service cafes, breakfast food and beverages along
with books and free Internet access.
While not moneymakers today, library officials hope
the privately-run cafes will make a bigger impact on
the library system's bottom line.
Dat Tong, an Evergreen library aide, picked up two
coffees Friday, one for himself, the other for a colleague.
Selling coffee and smoothies makes sense because libraries
are now social hangouts, he said.
``I think the library is now a place for people to
meet and talk,'' Tong said. ``I think it's cool to have
a coffee shop here.''
``It's pretty good,'' said San Jose State University
graduate chemistry student Bruce Phebus after taking
a sip of his large regular coffee and heading off to
table with his laptop. ``I hope to come back later and
try a smoothie.''
Libraries adding coffee shops about five years ago,
said Leslie Burger, president of the American Library
Association, as library officials began retooling their
images to change with the times.
``It's the convenience factor, making it easier for
people to come and spend time at a library, with the
added benefit that it can become a revenue source,''
Burger said.
And in many ways, it was a natural evolution, with
coffee chains like Starbucks opening small cafes inside
bookstores, allowing patrons to browse and dine.
The changing nature of libraries made cafes an attractive
option, said Ruth Barefoot, a librarian and manager
of the library system's San Jose Way program which develops
innovative programs and services for the city's 18 libraries.
With story times for children, after-school programs
for teens, book clubs for adults and other community
services, libraries are no longer a ``shush-shush place,''
she said.
But coffee shops need foot traffic, and not all of
the district's branches are busy enough to support them,
Barefoot said. Libraries that count about 1,000 patrons
a day are most likely to feature a cafe, she noted.
The Evergreen branch remains one of the busiest in the
district, registering between 1,500 and 1,700 daily
users.
Independent cafes inside three other San Jose libraries:
the Vineland branch in 2004, followed by the Alum Rock
branch last year and the Tully branch in May. A coffee
shop will open at the Almaden library later this year.
The Alum Rock branch, located across the street from
a high school, is one of the most successful, said Barefoot.
``It's a neat hot spot. They draw a high volume of teens.''
Right now, in-library cafes are reporting gross sales
of between $80 and $150 a day, said Barefoot.
Cafe owners are charged nominal $50-a-month rents to
help them get established, said Barefoot. If the businesses
become real profit makers, the library system may charge
them more.
And it's not just coffee being sold. Libraries elsewhere
have added other retail ventures to help contribute
to their bottom lines, according to the American Library
Association trade group.
Some libraries, including the Greenwich Library in
Connecticut, have featured a cafeteria for years, said
Burger, while others sell used books, reading-related
items or gifts sporting library logos.
Adding a technology twist, the New York Public Library
system recently began online sales of framed and unframed
prints of 450,000 images from its collection. The cost
is $30 to $275 per print.
Other libraries even permit online patrons seeking
a book or item they like in the library's collection
to click through and buy the item from Amazon.com, with
a percentage of sales returning to the institution,
Burger said.
``Property taxes don't always grow at the same rate
we need for our library budget to grow,'' said Burger.
``We have always been very creative in seeking alternative
sources of revenue.''
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