The sign reads, "We Proudly Brew Starbucks."
         Enter Cabell Library at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va., and the first thing you must do is dismiss those old notions of bookish reverence: scholars bent over dusty pages, the hush of quiet reading, the scratching sound of notes being taken and, all around, stacks of imposing and inviting books, walling out the busy world and making little sanctums for reflection, discovery and concentrated thinking. "The studious silence of the library," James Joyce once sang. "Tranquil brightness."
         Forget it.