Emory Report homepage  

September 12, 2005
New Jazzman's Cafe opens for business in Woodruff

BY Eric RAngus

Months in the making, Woodruff Library’s first food-service location, a Jazzman’s Café, opened its doors, Monday, Aug. 29. With campus full of students ready for fall semester, the eatery held its formal grand opening, Wednesday, Sept. 7.

Located on the first floor of the library and carved out of what was once a group study area, the 2,258 square foot café serves a refreshment need that has long been missing on campus.

According to Emory Dining Marketing Director Alison Barclay, the addition of food-service options to university libraries is a growing national trend. “In order to get students to use the facility, libraries need to provide additional services,” she said. “In this case, it’s coffee.”

And sandwiches, smoothies, desserts and bottled drinks—all of which are available in the café. Open containers are not allowed in the library, but if beverages are covered, customers can take them outside the café—not that there isn’t ample reason to stay within the confines of the new place.

The Jazzman’s grand opening featured food and drink samples, a poetry reading (in partnership with the Friends of Emory Libraries) and—in place of a ribbon cutting—a coffee toast.

As might be expected in a place called “Jazzman’s,” future plans call for occasional live jazz performances (in conjunction with the Department of Music) by student musicians. The poetry readings will continue, as well.

If Wednesday’s grand opening is any indication, the Woodruff Jazzman’s will not be a quiet place. But the café’s glass walls not only keep the hum of activity from bleeding into the wider library, they also foster an inviting sense of openness and comfort.

“We’ve had professors sit down for conversations, and there have been a variety of student study groups,” Barclay said. “This area is conducive to whatever study habit you might have.”

The area is very flexible. The space near the cash register is pretty busy, but behind it is a wide-open, much quieter area with several chairs scattered about. They are on wheels, so groups can come together with ease. With a nod to the café’s location, tables in the front were designed by the library’s John Klingler, using images from the Woodruff’s Manuscript, Archive & Rare Book Library. One table uses archival photos of Dooley, another Coca-Cola images and the like.

Original plans for the library Jazzman’s were drawn up last fall. Even though work on the space didn’t begin until late summer 2005, it was easily finished before the start of the fall semester.

The Jazzman’s in the library is one of several food-service openings for the fall. The Goizueta Business School expansion is home to an Einstein Bros. Bagels branch (the original campus Einstein’s is in the Dobbs Center) that will have its grand opening Sept. 13.

Another Jazzman’s will open in the Math & Science Center later this fall, although it will not be as large as the library location. Barclay said, when plans for a food-service location in White Hall fell through, the Math & Science Center served as a suitable substitute to cover that part of campus.

TOP