This past January, De Soto High School librarian Jennifer Sosna started selling coffee, hot chocolate and other items in the library. She calls this little café The Novel Cup.

Sosna started the café with hopes that it would bring more students and staff into the library.

“It’s a way for people to come in and see the library and the stuff that’s going on in here,” Sosna said.

The Novel Cup was also started in hopes of providing more funds for the library to work with.

“It provides us with a little extra money to be able to buy books and other things,” Sosna said.

Before The Novel Cup, Sosna had to find other ways to get the money needed.

“Sometimes I had to spend money out of pocket or ask for donations, but now I don’t have to do that,” Sosna said.

Sosna has been trying to spread the word about The Novel Cup in several ways, and it is working.

“I heard about it through the announcements and seeing posters for it. I also heard people talking about it,” freshman Zach Yarbrough said.

Junior Megan Wilkerson also heard about The Novel Cup from posters in the hallway. She often visits the café in the mornings when it is open.

“I like being able to come in here and get my hot chocolate and stuff before class,” Wilkerson said.

The Novel Cup was successful in the months of January and February, according to Sosna, and she intends to continue the café for the rest of this year, and to pick it back up next year.

Depending on what the weather is doing, Sosna says she might change the menu too.

“When it gets warmer we’ll do iced coffee and tea or something like that and see how that goes,” Sosna said.

Sosna got the idea for The Novel Cup by looking at various library boards on Pinterest.

“I found a bunch of schools that were doing things similar to what we’re doing now on online and decided to try it. A couple schools even had full conversions with actual cafés built in, but I thought we could start small and see how it goes.” Sosna said.

The Novel Cup is open on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 7:30 to 9:30 in the DHS media center