After closing unexpectedly for the Fall 2022 semester, the Biblio Cafe has officially resumed operations on Dickinson’s campus. Located on the first floor of the Waidner-Spahr Library, the cafe offers a variety of beverages including coffee and tea, as well as grab & go food options. 

According to Errol Huffman, Dickinson’s Director of Dining Services, the Biblio Cafe will continue to serve all of the food options that it has in previous semesters, with the exception of sushi. Huffman told The Dickinsonian that the removal of sushi options was “due to space limitations competing with other options.” 

The Biblio now only accepts cashless forms of payment, including student dining meal plans and credit cards. Students can use Any 15 or Any 20 meal swipes as well as Flex Points, Devil Dollars, and Dining Dollars. The Dickinson Dining Services Instagram account (@dsondining) announced the reopening of the cafe and explained that students can use their “Any 20/15 Combo Meal Plan to get coffee and a choice of fruit and a pastry item.” 

While the Biblio has finally returned to campus, the question of why the cafe closed in the first place has been raised. Huffman said the Biblio was “closed solely due to a lack of employees on the payroll.” Other members of Dickinson’s Dining Services have experienced issues with the lack of staffing. 

Rachel Pistol ’25, a student who worked in the dining hall during the Fall 2021 and Spring 2022 semesters, said “I definitely noticed staffing issues when I was working at the Caf. Especially on the weekends because [Dining Services] really relied on student workers and a lot of the students didn’t want to work on weekends.” Due to these issues, Pistol said, “It’s not surprising that the Biblio couldn’t be open.”

Despite the staffing issues that Pistol experienced while working in Dining Services, they said, “I’m glad they can work it out with the reopening because it’s definitely a necessary addition to Dining Services on campus.”