The cafe will be open from morning to the early evening during its pilot term this Summer, although the exact hours have not yet been set, according to Horrell. He said he hopes the cafe will be open until 1 a.m. starting Fall term to better align with students' study habits.
Horrell said he is not anticipating Dartmouth Dining Services to staff the cafe due to the ongoing construction of the Class of 1953 Commons.
"Their management capacity to oversee a new service is a challenge," he said.
Local vendors will instead staff the cafe, although the specific vendor is "under negotiation at the moment," Horrell said. The Summer pilot term will give the new vendor a chance to acclimate to the unique environment of Baker-Berry Library, he said.
Ridie Ghezzi, head of the library's research and instruction services, said the cafe will be environmentally sustainable and will feature "as many local products" as possible. The cafe will sell locally-produced coffee and features countertops made from local granite, she said.
The new cafe will differ from Novack Cafe by selling "high-end, really good" pastries and coffee, including espresso and lattes, Horrell said. Coffee which will be purchased with DBA will be served in china cups and saucers, adding to the coffee bar's more polished feel, he said.
Students will be able to order coffee from Baker Main Hall through an exhibit window that will be converted into a cafe counter, according to Horrell. He said he hopes the cafe will increase noise levels in the hall, "loosening it up" as sound travels through the window and students bring coffee and conversation into the Main Hall, which was "much quieter than anticipated" even after renovations.
"People shouldn't feel like they can't have a conversation," Horrell said.
The cafe will also feature comfortable chairs, tables, plasma TVs and many electrical outlets.
"We've added a lot of electricity and data ports," he said.
Horrell said that the coffee bar, unlike Novack Cafe, will provide the type of atmosphere in which faculty members feel more comfortable meeting.
"In the cafe, faculty members can sit with a group of students and talk," Horrell said.
Magazines and newspapers displaced by the cafe will mostly be moved to the Current Periodicals Room, but subscriptions for various newspapers were discontinued because they are available online, according to Horrell.
The display case near Sherman Library that highlights various faculty authors will be moved into the cafe in order to better display the books, Horrell said. A picture of each faculty member with a short biography will hang above his or her book. The cafe's walls will also be decorated with a series of eight posters from previous exhibits in the library, according to Horrell.
Ghezzi and Horrell emphasized their openness to student input.
"We're very excited about the changes and students' response," Horrell said.
In addition to the coffee shop, First Floor Berry will undergo renovations to be completed before Fall term, Horrell said. The information desk and reference desk will be combined to create one new service desk near the top of the stairs leading to Novack, according to Horrell. Greenprint and other "productivity" machines such as scanners will be added to create a "productivity area" on the floor, he said.
The renovations in Baker-Berry library were suggested by a report authored by the Learning Spaces Study Group in February 2010, The Dartmouth previously reported.
