Fondren, food and the pavilion
Fondren Library’s fourth floor has begun featuring accoutrements besides the usual leather bound volumes and graduate students, with Wednesday’s opening of a new coffee bar and lounge.
It seems a little odd that a building with a sign on the front door warning against food or open drink containers would have its own room for students to buy those banned items. Of course, the idea is that students cannot leave the new lounge with their food and coffee, but that seems a little unrealistic. Anyone walking the stacks, especially at finals time, knows that students bring food and drinks into the library — the new lounge just makes it easier.
Furthermore, the lounge will probably not be conducive to keeping the library quiet. A general rule of thumb seems to be that the higher the floor, the quieter the library should get, and a room of snacking non-studiers on the fourth floor will not help. It would make a lot more sense for the lounge to be on the first floor, away from quiet zones and closer to student traffic.
Of course, as we have previously recommended, the best plan would be to place the coffee machine and future vending machines in the Brochstein Pavilion once it is completed (“Pavilion success relies on students, machines,” Oct. 5). Students in the library would have no trouble just walking to the building next door, and there would be little, if any, concern over coffee-stained books and disruptive snackers.
Besides, the pavilion is supposed to be the future center of campus, not the fourth floor of the library.
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