after reading the article, I think this is a great idea. The school is reacting to how learning is/has changed over the past decade or more. It is not only adding the readers but also seems to be providing the hardware needed for laptop centric learning, multi-media and network & web connectivity.
While it is a bold move, it is a good move as well. The coffee shop thing is a cool idea as well. In a way the school is taking the idea of a Borders/Barnes & Noble bookstore and bringing that into the school's teaching structure. And $13k for a restaurant grade bit of kitchen hardware is not expensive...and remember this is a Prep school, money is not an issue at these schools. A Prep school is the sort of place where if the parents need to ask how much the tuition is, they can't afford it to begin with...
Me? I am happy with my consumer grade Bunn drip machine (best coffee maker for home use, well, ever!
), a manual pepper mill to make my Turkish grind and my thrift store readers...but the results are the same and it would be cool to see more schools move in this direction, with the tweaks that make it work for that campus.