5 Long Island libraries with new coffee shops inside

A foggy haze rose from a double espresso with ice as barista Victor Dutton blasted 120-degree steam into the drink.

Inside the clear cup, clouds of foamy cream rose to the top and the aerated espresso settled.

“I find it refreshing,” Dutton said of the brew.

The drink is called the “Plot Twist,” appropriate because the Dutton Brew House opened in March in an unexpected location — among the stacks at the Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library in Shirley.

Coffee cafes inside libraries are having a moment on Long Island and beyond. Count a fresh cup of joe among the options now offered by institutions where eating, drinking and talking in conversational tones used to be frowned upon.

The new beverage spots reflect the evolving role of libraries as community centers, offering services like bike borrowing and job counseling. Newsday explores the changes these local institutions are making to stay relevant in the digital age in the ongoing LI Life series “LI Libraries: Lending books, lending a hand.”

“As more people work remotely or have more nontraditional office jobs, the library has also become a work space for some,” said Kevin Verbesey, executive director of the Suffolk Cooperative Library System. “If you are anywhere for longer periods of time, there are different things you are looking for than a place you just run in and out of to grab a book. Comfortable seating, food/drink options and places to chat with neighbors are things patrons are looking for, and a cafe is a great way to provide all three.”

Here are a few library cafes to check out.

CENTER MORICHES FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY

235 Main St., Center Moriches, centermoricheslibrary.org

From the street, the Hampton Coffee Company shop looks like any other downtown business. But inside, wide-open doors lead to a cozy fireplace lounge and the expansive interior of the Center Moriches Free Public Library.

Customers chat at a coffee bar separated by a glass wall from a patio with tables. Parents with strollers greet friends before walking through the coffee shop and into the library, while library patrons make their way in for a dessert and coffee break.

On Saturdays, right along this two-way traffic, the Ketcham Inn Foundation’s “coffee club” sits around a coffee table stacked with home-baked treats and Hampton brews. The seven or so volunteers help manage five historic properties in the area, and they say the atmosphere encourages easy conversation about their preservation work and Ketcham Inn programs offered in cooperation with the library.

“I’ll stay here by myself and read a book when the cleaning people are doing my house,” said Carol Valone, 86, of Center Moriches, whose apricot scones sat on the table.

The chain location opened in 2022 after three years of planning a library expansion and the best use for the new space, said library director Marcie Litjens. It’s leased to the coffee chain for $600 per month, she added, but the library isn’t trying to turn a profit.

“It’s a sense of community, all over a cup of coffee,” Litjens said.

While researching the idea, she said she called a Michigan library with a full-service Starbucks. “I asked a ton of questions,” she recalled. “Was it successful? Were there problems with the cafe? Were there bugs and spills and messes?”

What Litjens heard proved true — a cafe would bring in new visitors. There were 224,966 patron visits in 2025, up from 166,075 in 2022, the year the cafe opened. “Not everyone is aware of library services, and you might not hook them to come into the library, but you can always hook people to get a fresh brewed cup of coffee.”

ROGERS MEMORIAL LIBRARY

91 Coopers Farm Rd., Southampton, myrml.org

Bookmark Cafe at Rogers Memorial Library in Southampton serves a bigger purpose — training adults with disabilities for the workplace.

All the employees come from the nonprofit South Fork Bakery, based in Sag Harbor, which operates its baking facility in Amagansett. The program helps employees learn to take direction, get to work on time and bake goodies sold at local stores and farmers markets.

At the library cafe, coffee is self-serve and the employees show customers how to operate the machines and the cashless kiosk.

But that’s not the main job, said Collier Lee, 29, of North Haven, who has been working there a couple of months.

“It’s being nice and greeting our customers with love and respect,” he said.

The library is the bakery’s first location outside Amagansett and its first public-facing site offering valuable experience for trainees learning social skills, said Bridget Fleming, executive director of South Fork Bakery. Some employees work independently, but others are accompanied by a job coach who helps guide them through unexpected situations. The cafe faces the circulation desk, where library staffers also watch out for the employees.

“A library is such a warm, inclusive kind of atmosphere and community,” Fleming said. “Our program participants have really been able to thrive.”

SACHEM PUBLIC LIBRARY

150 Holbrook Rd., Holbrook, sachemlibrary.org

The Holbrook library partnered with Brewport cafe to offer the same menu as its Bellport cafe, including monthly specials like the Lucky Charms Chai latte for March, with colorful marshmallows on top.

The full-service space includes dessert cases, sandwiches, salads and high-end coffee machines. Due to the cafe’s popularity, its floor space is being expanded so more seating can be added.

“You can take your food and drink anywhere in the library,” said library director Neely McCahey.

The library’s coffee spot used to be more basic, in a not-too-visible corner of the library, with coffee pots, some snacks and a contractor operating it, she said. Then two years ago, the library spent about $75,000 to triple its size and make it visible from the entrance.

These days, what is just as popular as the coffee are the two booths with cushy seats. “What it encourages, just those two booths, are people to come in and set up their laptops and do some work, maybe meet with colleagues,” McCahey said. “We notice a lot of families grabbing treats for little ones, and the little ones will climb up onto the booths. It’s just a really active, inviting space.”

Twelve booths have been added to the library lower level because patrons find them so comfortable, she said.

By partnering with Brewport, library officials said they’re offering a service to a local small business, a concept that will be expanded to local artists whose work will soon be displayed on the cafe’s shiplap walls.

“We are just providing the opportunity,” McCahey noted.

MERRICK LIBRARY

2279 Merrick Ave., Merrick, merricklibrary.org

It can be a hassle to pack up laptops, notebooks and bags just to step out for a midday java break.

That’s one reason the Merrick Library is in the midst of installing sinks, flooring and water-resistant wall covering as it builds a new cafe inside the building.

“More and more, we have patrons there for the entire day doing work, doing studying, nannies and caregivers there for hours on end,” said library director Dan Chuzmir. “Instead of making people pack up and go blocks away to get a cup of coffee, they’ll be able to do it right there.”

Unlike Center Moriches or Sachem, the Merrick Library will run the coffee shop, something Chuzmir views as an advantage.

“We’re operating the whole thing ourselves,” he said. “Instead of putting it in the hands of a business that has to make a profit, we have the benefit of not needing to run it as a business. We can run it as a service. We want it as an added perk of being in the library.”

The library has hired a veteran barista whose salary will be paid from the library’s budget, Chuzmir added. Expect a late spring opening.

MASTICS-MORICHES-SHIRLEY COMMUNITY LIBRARY

407 William Floyd Pkwy., Shirley, communitylibrary.org

Racing toward the coffee counter, 4-year-old Eli Felton slapped hard on the glass dessert case holding cookies and children’s drinks.

“I want this one and this too,” he said loudly to his mother.

Mom didn’t shush him.

At the Dutton Brew House cafe inside the Mastics-Moriches-Shirley Community Library, that kind of enthusiasm is welcome.

On April 12, a Sunday when the coffee shop would usually be closed, it will host “Little Sips Cafe” with dimmed lights, cupcake decorating and specialty drinks like lemonade. It’s already wait-listed because the spots for five kids with one parent have been filled.

Co-owner Dani Dutton became emotional talking about the idea. In public spaces, she said, people have sometimes glared at her son Edward, 4, who is on the autism spectrum, when he becomes boisterous. But at the cafe’s grand opening, Edward was the one who cut the ribbon.

“My son wasn’t able to participate in the traditional library programs,” she said. “So I wanted to give moms a place where they could bring their kids that struggle in larger groups.”

Dutton owns the business with husband Eddie and his brother Victor. All three have been coffee connoisseurs, ordering various coffee beans from around the world and brewing them at home. Friends and relatives loved their coffee, and when giving the beans and brews got to be too expensive, their fans volunteered to pay and a business idea was born.

The cafe menu lists book-themed coffee drinks like “Fahrenheit 451” and “Of Mice & Cinnamon,” and features a baked-goods case stocked with muffins, cookies and doughnuts.

The library building, completed in 2024, included a space designed for a cafe. The shop now sits in a curved, mezzanine-like area overlooking the teen section and is visible through the glass walls of the children’s section.

Ultimately, the cafe is meant to feel like a community gathering place, Dani Dutton said.

“We want to be able to help people in the community,” she said. “We’re going to know your name. We’re going to know what you like to drink. We’re going to know your kids. We’re going to know when you normally come. So we want it to be like home.”