By Sarrah Peters/News Editor
The Gadsden Public library held a ribbon cutting for its new Novel Café on Tuesday, Sept 30. The Café had a grand opening the next day on Wednesday, Oct. 1.
The Novel Café was the Downtown Deli. It is located inside the Gadsden Public Library in the former reference and genealogy area with the Friends of the Library Bookstore, which has expanded. The café will be open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.
The Novel Café features the standard deli fare, notably sandwiches and salads.
However, the café has two sandwiches with interesting names.
The Dr. Seuss is a wheat hoagie with honey ham, Swiss cheese, lettuce, mayo and honey mustard.
The Jane Austen club sandwich has three pieces of toasted white bread topped with turkey, ham, bacon, Swiss cheese, American cheese, lettuce, tomato, mayo and honey mustard.
The café’s specialty is the chicken salad. The chicken salad is sold in quantities as large as a pound.
The cafe also offers breakfast items, including muffins, cinnamon rolls and breakfast casserole, starting at $1.99. The food is made fresh and delicious.
The expanded bookstore sells donated books and retired library books at relatively low prices. They also sell magazines and movies.
The funds from the books help pay for new library books.
For the grand opening the store offered a 10 percent discount at the café if a customer purchased seven dollars worth of merchandise from the bookstore. In addition, Friends of the Library members received half off all books over 99 cents.
At the ribbon cutting, Library Director Amanda Jackson said that she was grateful to the city for being so supportive of the library.
“So many places do not understand what libraries can do for their communities,” said Jackson.
Mayor Sherman Guyton, however, praised the efforts of the library for being so involved with the community, as well as Director Jackson’s efforts to improve the quality of the library, especially with the cafe and bookstore.
“Every so often this library just goes to another level,” said Guyton.
All that is required to become a Friend of the Gadsden Public Library is a donation. For individuals, the fee is $15. For seniors and students, the fee is eight dollars. For a family, the fee is $25. More advanced memberships are available as sponsors or corporate memberships. A lifetime membership is $500. To apply, visit the Gadsden Public Library at 254 College Street, next to Gadsden’s main post office.
