Nixon's Farm will begin selling coffee and food at the central and Glenwood branches of the Howard County Public Library on Monday, after months of caffeine-free operation at the locations.

Library administrators finalized an agreement yesterday with the family-run farm, which offers catering and sponsors events on its property in West Friendship. It also has a contract with the county to run cafe operations at the George Howard Building and the Circuit Court.

"Our customers will be elated," said Valerie Gross, the library director.

Nixon's will offer coffee, tea, cold drinks and homemade baked goods and sandwiches. The library has been eager to fill the void since the Daily Grind left the two locations in August.

"Almost every day, someone says, 'We miss the cafe,'" said Susan Stonesifer, branch manger at the Glenwood library. "I think it really brought a sense of community to the library."

She said mothers stopped by for a beverage while their children were involved in story time, teen-agers ate snacks before studying and patrons gathered before and after programs. "Of course, the staff miss it too," Stonesifer said.

But despite what library staff members see as a potential pool of customers, keeping a vendor has been difficult for the organization.

Last year, the first company to lease cafe space at the Glenwood branch, Riverside Roastery & Espresso, asked the library to cancel its contract two years early. After a year in business, Riverside was consistently operating in the red.

The Daily Grind, which took over in October 2001, also left for business reasons. "I was losing money," Daily Grind owner David Key said.

Although he had hoped for plenty of traffic at the library, there were not enough patrons to keep the business profitable. "We were not getting anyone off the street just to see us," he said.

"We were very pleased with the Daily Grind," said Gross, adding, "We respected their business decision to move on."

Daily Grind's departure short-circuited a lawsuit against the library system and the county government, which was filed by another coffee vendor, Straight from Seattle Espresso Inc. of Owings Mills. It alleged the bidding process that resulted in the Daily Grind's contract was improper.

Straight from Seattle Espresso said in its lawsuit that Daily Grind did not disclose a previous contract with the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, which might have led to an unfavorable reference. It also said Daily Grind improperly offered the library more than the stipulated rent.

The library denies there was anything wrong with the process.

According to Matthew McCauley, president and owner of Straight from Seattle, the lawsuit was no longer necessary after the contract was terminated. But McCauley said he hopes the legal action brought to light important issues in maintaining a fair bidding process.

"We have not given up on operating our concept in a public library," McCauley said, noting that his company has offered a bid for cafe service at the Towson library.

A bid process was not used to replace the Daily Grind. Gross said the library's policies and procedures allowed it to join the current contract between Nixon's Farm and the county.

Coffee shops are not uncommon in public libraries, says Maurice J. Freedman, president of the American Library Association. And in recent years, libraries have felt the pressure from bookstores such Barnes & Noble, which have influenced the public to associate books with baristas.

"How we attract people and what we do to keep them are very important to us," Freedman said.

Even libraries without the space for a cafe are starting to allow customers to bring in food and drink. "It's becoming more of an expectation from [library] customers nationwide," Gross said. "It serves to further the gathering-place concept" that libraries try to foster.

Stonesifer said patrons and staff members at the Glenwood branch are looking forward to having a new vendor. She says people still gather at the tables and chairs near the cafe space, but "it definitely begs for the smell of caffeine and a couple of crumbs."