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Finland's cities are havens for library lovers

theguardian.com

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Re: Finland's cities are havens for library lovers

#51

Post by badpun »

Areading314 wrote: post #7
usr1106 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, Facebook is a more efficient way to spread especially false information.

The exact same books are available electronically nowadays, and are likely to be more up to date than a paper version. Building a library won't make anyone stop reading facebook drivel.

> The exact same books are available electronically nowadays, and are likely to be more up to date than a paper version.

Huh? I was always under the impression that most of the books are still not available electronically. What may be true is that most of the currently published books are also published in e-book format, but that still leaves out a majority of books.

Re: Finland's cities are havens for library lovers

#53

Post by sctb »

Tomte wrote: post #12
timonoko wrote: post #9

Visit any library in Helsinki at any time and you'll discover that there are more librarians than customers. And there lies the problem, those hundreds of useless people have considerable political power, so they now try to "develop" this now worthless institution to something else.

Please tell us a bit about you, so that we can have a discussion with subsequent vote whether you are a useful person.

When a comment breaks the guidelines, please flag it quietly. There's no need to worsen our discussions by amplifying irritation.

Re: Finland's cities are havens for library lovers

#54

Post by annexrichmond »

utopkara wrote: post #40

US cities are amazing for libraries as well. I don't know much about the history of libraries, but it feels as if having a nice library was a prerequisite to being called a town. I'd say even now, having a nice library is a source of pride for towns.

Your comment reminds me of a classic scene from Fargo Season 1[1]

Gangster 1: "There’s no library in this town. Why is there no library in this town?"

Gangster 2: "Umm... cutbacks?"

Gangster 1: "He thinks every town should have a library."

[1] https://youtu.be/Ck_3QxgO438?t=1m22s

Re: Finland's cities are havens for library lovers

#55

Post by Tomte »

sctb wrote: post #53
Tomte wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please tell us a bit about you, so that we can have a discussion with subsequent vote whether you are a useful person.

When a comment breaks the guidelines, please flag it quietly. There's no need to worsen our discussions by amplifying irritation.

I'm not sure the user realized how inhumane the word-choice was. After all, it was just an adjective in an otherwise wrong, but rule-compliant comment. And "useless people" is not a rare expression in online discourse.

I was aiming for "sarcastic", not "irritated".

Re: Finland's cities are havens for library lovers

#56

Post by allannienhuis »

atupis wrote: post #16
jammi wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems like an article from a paper romanticist, and they aren't extinct yet. Anyhow, here in Finland the libraries are not just for paper-based information storage/dispersion, but common places for all kinds of public information/technology needs, like (3D) printing, copying or digitizing material into modern formats, and free guided computing needs for poor or old people. They're also public gathering places, includ…

Living in Finland and doing remote work so often I just go library to program, it's pretty quiet, it has air conditioning and it's free.

I love to work from libraries when travelling - quiet, free good quality internet, and no one looks at you sideways if you stay there for hours. The only challenge is having voice calls/meetings; I have to pop out to my car or just wander around outside (depending on traffic noise in the area), so it's harder to have ad-hoc quick calls. That's good for focus though :)

Re: Finland's cities are havens for library lovers

#57

Post by sedachv »

Areading314 wrote: post #7
usr1106 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, Facebook is a more efficient way to spread especially false information.

The exact same books are available electronically nowadays, and are likely to be more up to date than a paper version. Building a library won't make anyone stop reading facebook drivel.

> The exact same books are available electronically nowadays

Not even close. In 2010, there were about 130 million published paper books.[1] In 2012, there were only 1.3 million Amazon Kindle books available.[2] Note that availability is region-based, so no, those books may not actually be available. Google ebook store launched in 2010 with only 3 million titles.[3] A lot of the Kindle "books" are not even books, they are pamphlets or long articles. Library genesis is only 2.1 million books.

I can tell you don't actually read any ebooks. If you did, you would notice that about a third of the digitized Kindle books have the same review: "the formatting of the book is unreadable, I want my money back."

[1] https://www.quora.com/How-many-books-are-there-on-the-Amazon... [2] https://www.quora.com/How-many-books-are-there-on-the-Amazon... [3] https://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/discover-more-than-3...

Re: Finland's cities are havens for library lovers

#58

Post by jryle70 »

psychedelic wrote: post #26

This article fails to mention another reason; cities in Finland are built in such a way that going to the library is feasible. I've lived in both Finland and the U.S., and commuting in Finland is much easier. Commuting in U.S. cities takes a lot more energy, and the thought of it is often painful, so people just don't go in the first place. At least where I live...

Below is Seinäjoki main library as mentioned above:

https://www.google.com/maps/search/library/@62.785737,22.838...

Can you elaborate how it's easier to get there than says one in Fairfax, a dense suburb of DC in Northern Virginia?

https://www.google.com/maps/place/City+of+Fairfax+Regional+L...

Re: Finland's cities are havens for library lovers

#60

Post by sandelz »

m0ck wrote: post #49
sandelz wrote: post #22

I live in mid sized Finnish city with about 60 000 people (Seinäjoki) and library (built ~10 years ago) is one of those things you never hear people talking bad about. If I remember correctly our library served as an example when designing Oodi library in Helsinki since it portraits a "new library style" municipalities are reaching for. The goal was to get people to stay there instead of just fetching the article the…

What a coincidence, Seinäjoki happens to be the only Finnish city I know (besides Helsinki), because The Dudesons were born there :)

Yes they are our heroes and main export :) I even know HP from earlier life, extremely kind-hearted and funny guy.
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