Posted by Max Siegelbaum
Lucy's Café, on the first floor of the Scribner Library, opened on Feb. 25 to mixed reviews from the campus.
The new café is located across from the circulation desk in the room that used to house the library's copy and fax machines.
Lucy's is designed in a similar fashion to the Burgess and Atrium cafés, with earth toned Formica plastic and glossy stained wood. Students, primarily upperclassmen, staff the café.
While bags of green mountain coffee line the walls, coffee is prepared from small capsules in a brand new Keurig single serving coffee dispenser. The café also offers assorted pastries, fruit, juice and bottled organic tea.
Students have expressed mixed opinions about the necessity and convenience of a café in the library.
"[The café is] awesome. I don't have to go outside to get coffee," Courtenay Jagel '11, said.
Nadia Arcese '11 said she believes the café has promise, but worries that it might lead to a crowded and noisy first floor.
Other students expressed concern about the café.
"[The café] sounds unnecessary and wasteful unless they bring something different than Burgess," Sarah Rosenblatt '12 said. She suggested that Lucy's might consider importing food from the local farmer's market.
Tommy Wagner '13 said the café is unnecessary and a waste of resources. "I don't mind walking an extra two minutes down a covered walkway to get my coffee. We already have 3 food establishments all in minutes of each other."
A post on the website Skidmore Unofficial pointed out another negative aspect of the café: coffee from Lucy's is more expensive per ounce than coffee at any other campus café.
"One Keurig K-Cup brews about 8 ounces of watery coffee and will set you back $1.25." says the Skidmore Unofficial post. A 12-ounce cup at Burgess, the Atrium, or the Spa is the same price.
Students also described the coffee at Lucy's as bland and watery.
Despite some negative response, a member of the Scribner Library staff, who declined to have her name published, said she is "cautiously optimistic" about the future of Lucy's.
Lucy's is open from 8 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday, and from 8 p.m. to midnight Sunday through Thursday.