Intellectual curiosity won't be the only thing fed when the new Halifax Central Library opens on Spring Garden Road next fall.

Halifax Public Libraries is looking for an operator to run two cafés at the new location, including one that opens onto a rooftop patio.

Bruce Gorman, the director of library services, said offering food and beverages means a new library experience for users. Library users will be able to take their croissants and cappuccinos throughout the building.

"If you just want to go into a library and read a book and have a sandwich and have a coffee, so be it," Gorman said.

"Maybe we're having an event on in the big Paul O'Regan hall and you've come to see Symphony Nova Scotia, a partner of ours, play and you want to have a coffee.

"It's really creating an experience that you want in a space that is for you."

The ground floor café will be accessible from the corner of Spring Garden Road and Queen Street. It will be close to an indoor performance space.

Customers on the fifth floor patio café will be able to see Dartmouth and the Westin Hotel on Hollis Street.

Gorman said other companies would still be allowed to cater events that are held at the library.