Frequenters of Berry Library and passersby may have noticed that Novack Cafe, their source of on-the-run snacks and late-night caffeine fixes, shortened its normal operating hours during the first week of classes. While the library dining spot cut back its hours temporarily due to a soda machine repair and planned hour reductions during interim, Beth Rosenberger, manager of Novack, Homeplate and Cafe North, said she sees no reason that the cafe will not be open consistently in the future.
This past Monday, Novack posted a sign stating it would be closing early for equipment repairs.
"Novack Cafe was closed on Monday night because of maintenance, not because of staffing issues," Novack Student Manager Richard Prutzer '09 said. "This was a necessary repair on our soda machine, so we needed to close early even though we had the staff to remain open for the rest of the day."
Rosenberger did say, however, that Novack is currently experiencing a lack of student employees, which is indicative of an overall trend at Dartmouth Dining Services, and does make scheduling difficult. Last year at this time, the cafe had 24 student employees. Now, they have 16.
"Several years ago, we had 150-plus Dartmouth students working for DDS. Right now there are 67," Rosenberger said. "I think that a bigger pool of new jobs, many where you can sit and read, have arisen on campus. The DDS positions have been filled by full time adults."
Rosenberger explained that the Student Assembly came to DDS several years ago and said students wanted a late night cafe in the library.
"They helped us find staff the first year or so, but people move on and priorities change," she said. "Students want the service, we want to provide it."
Currently Novack management is in charge of finding and hiring new employees.
"This could be a Fall term thing with transitions and all that. But we definitely have staffing issues," Connie Lam '10, a current Novack employee, said. "People are more interested in jobs that might look better on your resume, but I like working at Novack."
Prutzer, who is also in charge of putting together the student schedule and training new employees, agreed that staffing Novack in the beginning of the term can be difficult.
"So many students love to have the cafe open until 2 a.m., but who wants to work that late while taking classes?" he said. "The closing shifts at Novack are all staffed for this term, so I hope that we will be able to stay open until 2 a.m. consistently."