The library at Cal State East Bay will soon be home to a Starbucks Cafe.
The Starbucks branch is set to open in the lower mall of the University Library in the fall, says Chris Brown, the enterprise director for the Cal State East Bay Foundation on campus. Starbucks was chosen to open on campus “at the request of University Librarian Provost Linda Dobb,” said Brown. Dobb has worked closely with student leadership in an effort to diversify and decentralize food and drink choices on campus.
“Almost all food choices are located near the old union,” Brown says. “We want to decentralize food to be able to serve the needs of students who take classes in all the buildings so they can buy food near their classes.”
The new Starbucks will be the second coffee shop on campus. Java City is currently open in the New Union. According to the ASI Foundation, Starbucks has paid more than $500,000 in licensing and other fees. Like other on campus facilities, staffing and operations of the new cafe will be managed by Aramark.
“Retaining the same management for Starbucks eliminates worries of unfair competition” says Brown. “It all comes down to personal taste, some people like Starbucks and others don’t and all we want to do is give them that choice.”
Reaction to the news that the mega-café is coming to campus has been mixed. Some students say they worry that opening a Starbucks in the library will add noise to the already busy lower mall. “I think it might be a distraction,” said Mo Her, 22, a senior. “It’s already loud in there and difficult to study. Adding a café may make things even louder. I think I’d avoid the library as much as possible if it got any louder.”
Sophomore Dory Hashimoto, 19, disagrees. “I drink coffee everyday and if there were a Starbucks in the library I wouldn’t have to leave as early to stop by for a coffee before class.” Hashimoto says she might even stay in the library longer once the café opens. “It would make things feel more relaxed and less dead,” she says.
Brown says creating a relaxed, comfortable atmosphere is exactly what he and Dobb sought to do. “The library does not have to be a dreadful place to be. We should make the library a place where people look forward to going and not just a place they have to go to.”