Another trend...

How long before this moves to public libraries? Some of our branches in my system already have coffee machines. I guess this is the next logical step. I don't mind people drinking coffee in a library. What worries me is the library turning into a meeting place for people who are just there to drink coffee and socialize. The noise levels today are much higher in libraries then when I was a kid. People no longer feel the need to have any decorum. Mothers bring their kids in to play and ignore them while they run around screaming. Even worse they often are louder than their children as they try and talk over them. And when you politely remind them they are in a library and their are people trying to work they get act all indignant and just go on as before. The reality though is we are competing for patronage and have to accommodate people. The question then becomes how to do this without offending the backbone of our clientele--those that vote for our levies...