Brewing up a conversation

Beverly Meyer, who joined Bookmark Café’s cast in October, tries to cheer up the corner of Ellis Library basement by initiating conversations with customers.

She starts by asking people about their lives and their studies while they wait for their orders or for the credit card receipt to print.

Bookmark Café opened in August 2003. It provides people a place to sit with open drink containers and food, which cannot be brought into rest of the library. Foods and drinks served include coffee, tea, soda, juices, bagels, cookies, pastries, muffins and sweets.

The supplies are stored in Union Square and are moved daily to the library.

Meyer said meeting a lot of interesting people, especially international students, is the best thing about working at Bookmark.

“One guy from South Africa came once,” she said.

Meyer’s fondness for international students came from her family.

“My father is a pastor, and my uncle is a missionary to India,” she said. “We would have a lot of international people in our house.”

She said she enjoys everything related to international people because they offer different points of view. She often rents Hallmark movies with stories that take place overseas.

The opportunity to make new friends is another job benefit, she said, and the friends often inspire her to follow her dreams.

Cindy Cotner, a reference librarian, said she is happy to see a place in the library where students as well as the library staff can take a break from their routines.

“(Meyer) is very cheerful and upbeat,” Cotner said.

To their surprise, Meyer and Cotner discovered they are neighbors.

“I didn’t know until she started working (at the Bookmark Café),” Cotner said. “Now I see her driving around, and we stop and talk.

“I got coffee down there once a week. But I say hi to her almost every day.”

Meyer, originally from Lewiston, Minn., moved to the Columbia area in 1975 to be closer to an elderly aunt who lives in Boonville. She said she loves traveling and hopes to visit other relatives in Washington state next year.

Meyer loves to try new things. She was a teacher and a saleswoman before starting in food services.

Before working for Bookmark Café, she worked part time at MU dining halls, including Plaza 900, Mark Twain and Bingham.

Coffee, though, has been something she is familiar with, for she spent one summer serving coffee at a camp.

Among the variety of coffees offered by Starbucks, she said mocha is her favorite.

Her typical day starts at 5 a.m. so she can be at work by 7:30. She starts brewing coffees right away. The first student worker comes at 8 to bake the cookies and bagels.

Checking the stock and making a list of needed items for the next day are daily tasks. She goes to lunch at 11 and comes back at noon.

“After lunch, everything goes fast, especially when there are people,” she said.

She finishes at 4.

In addition to working, Meyer spends her time walking, doing aerobics, watching old English mysteries on PBS and going to Bible study. She also ushers for concerts at Jesse Hall.