MITO -- A good cup of coffee may be a superlative supplement for a good book, but the recent melding of public library and cafe in this city north of Tokyo has drawn a spate of complaints.

       While many users have embraced the introduction of a coffee shop at the Ibaraki Prefectural Library, which reopened in July after renovations, some residents have said that it looks like the library has been taken over because the cafe sign is both larger and positioned above the sign for the library, even though it's the latter that is hosting the former.

       The Ibaraki Prefectural Government decided in around winter 2018 to add a cafe to the prefectural library, and publicly sought proposals from businesses between December 2019 and January 2020. After screening, it selected Nippon Restaurant System Inc., which operates major cafe chain Hoshino Coffee, in February 2020.

       With the introduction of the cafe, a Hoshino Coffee sign was installed in the center of the library facade, with the custom-made logo representing the collaboration between the library and cafe below. The library sign is beneath both, in a smaller script.

       According to the prefectural government's lifelong learning division, it has received multiple complaints about the signs' comparative font sizes since the reopening. The division explained that the library sign predates the Hoshino-related signage, and that it was difficult to move it as it is attached to the building eave just above the entrance.

       Meanwhile, the size of the cafe's sign on the empty wall space above was chosen so that it would not be hidden by trees and could be easily seen from the street, ultimately making it more noticeable than the library sign. Nippon Restaurant System's parent company Doutor-Nichires Holdings Co. said that it was "not aware" of the complaints.

       Apparently, the cafe was introduced to shake up and expand the library's user base, which had reportedly become increasingly fixed some 20 years after the institution opened. The library used to have 1,300 visitors a day on average, but the number increased to 1,600 after the renovation, and about 300 people use the cafe.

       A lifelong learning division representative said, "First, we want people to visit, so we are glad at the increase in the number of users."

       (Japanese original by Kyoka Kobayashi, Mito Bureau)

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