The library at Sacramento State boasts a fea­ture which is, I believe, unique among American aca­d­e­m­ic libraries: a Japanese tea room. The Sokiku Nakatani Tea Room, which was ded­i­cat­ed in 2007, was the gift of an anony­mous donor and is named after a long-time Sacramento-area prac­ti­tion­er of Chado (more on this term soon). The tea room sits in the library’s base­ment, with win­dows look­ing out onto a small adja­cent gar­den that is clev­er­ly tucked away from the hus­tle and bus­tle above. In addi­tion to hous­ing a col­lec­tion of tea ware and tea prepa­ra­tion uten­sils, the tea room peri­od­i­cal­ly hosts tea […]