A cash-strapped Queens library has found an unusual way to raise revenue: selling soda, chips and candy.
The Queens Library recently installed two vending machines stocked with unhealthy snacks near the entrance of its Long Island City branch.
But after calls from the Daily News, library President Thomas Galante reached out to Sterling Vending on Thursday and requested that more nutritious items be included.
“The library always supports the healthiest eating habits and supports the health and well-being of the community,” said library spokeswoman Joanne King.
Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which advocates for healthier eating, said “we need to be reducing obesity — not increasing it.”
“It’s not a good idea to be selling more junk food at a time when most people are struggling to eat better themselves,” she said.
King said the vending machines were installed within the last month because there aren’t many stores nearby where children can pick up snacks.
The library is using the branch as a pilot to see how the vending machines “work out,” she said.
A portion of the proceeds goes toward supporting after-school programs.
But King also previously told The News that the machines “only sell healthy snacks, like fruit juice and healthy snack packs” and that patrons can only eat in certain parts of the branch.
That wasn’t the case earlier in the week.
Two machines stocked with fudge-striped cookies, MMs, chips and a variety of water, ice teas and soda sat near the main entrance.
A patron was spotted sitting at a table with a half-empty beverage and a library employee was observed eating a granola bar in the elevator.
“Queens Library has never permitted food in the library before,” King said. “It’s a very radical experiment.”
Amie Hamlin, executive director of the New York Coalition for Healthy School Food, said the machines encourage kids to overeat or snack between meals.
“The library should have nutrition standards for them,” she said. “They could have pieces of fruit.”
City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Sunnyside), who worked for the library system for more than a decade, said he hopes the vendors can be persuaded to offer more nutritious snacks.
“Any efforts to bring additional revenue into the system is something that should be explored,” Van Bramer said. “My preference would be that the vending machines have a good mixture of healthier options.”
Branch patron Karen Green, 28, of Long Island City, said the library should “get rid of them.”
“You’d think a library would put something much more healthy in than a soda machine and a chip machine,” she said.
But Akira Hope, 28, of Long Island City, said it was “about time” the library began offering snacks.
“It’s so far from the stores and kids really do need stuff,” she said.
Maritza Herrera, co-secretary of the Friends of the Long Island City Library, which supports the branch, said her group recommended putting in the machines.
They are using a portion of the profits to buy healthy snacks for the roughly 200 kids that attend the library’s after-school programs, she said.
“We thought it would be a great idea,” she said.
