Helsinki Central Library chosen as the best new public library • Hacker News Board

Re: Helsinki Central Library chosen as the best new public library

#31

Post by deanclatworthy » Tue, Aug 27, 2019, 6:15 PM UTC

tow21 wrote: post #4

Weird. I think it’s rubbish as a public library. I mean, it’s an interesting building, and a nice place for a cup of coffee, but it’s absolutely useless if you want to go and browse some shelves and borrow some books; it’s like it’s been actively designed to make that hard to do.

Agree. I’ve spent a fair amount of time there the last couple of weeks. It’s full of tourists (both from outside Helsinki and outside of Finland) gawking around and taking photos and selfies. It’s noisy as there is no protocol for that as it’s a “public space”. So what is it? A nice looking building with hardly any books, a few gimmicks and two cafes.

On the surface it fits the bill for all the modern awards it’s bound to get and it fits the narrative that libraries are for public space rather than renting books, but spend some time there. It’s not practical to get books from as there are hardly any books, it’s not practical to study as there is only one tiny reading room.

I urge anyone reading this article to spend more than 15m wandering around in there.

Re: Helsinki Central Library chosen as the best new public library

#32

Post by snazz » Tue, Aug 27, 2019, 6:16 PM UTC

pembrook wrote: post #29

clarkmoody wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What you've described is a community center, not a library...

I'm involved with my local library, and if you could see the trend line on how many people are checking out books...you'd realize that every library will eventually become a community center. It's important to not let our personal nostalgia for the past hold back the next generation from getting the resources they need from local government. This is clearly a well-thought evolution of what a library of the future sho…

And even though I’m a pretty heavy user of my local library system for reading paper books, I rarely walk in there; usually I find a book online and place a hold on it and then pick it up when they email me that it’s ready.

Re: Helsinki Central Library chosen as the best new public library

#33

Post by minikites » Tue, Aug 27, 2019, 6:20 PM UTC

Libraries are one of the few indoor spaces left where you can spend time there without a requirement to purchase something.

Re: Helsinki Central Library chosen as the best new public library

#34

Post by distances » Tue, Aug 27, 2019, 6:27 PM UTC

snazz wrote: post #32

pembrook wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm involved with my local library, and if you could see the trend line on how many people are checking out books...you'd realize that every library will eventually become a community center. It's important to not let our personal nostalgia for the past hold back the next generation from getting the resources they need from local government. This is clearly a well-thought evolution of what a library of the future sho…

And even though I’m a pretty heavy user of my local library system for reading paper books, I rarely walk in there; usually I find a book online and place a hold on it and then pick it up when they email me that it’s ready.

Exactly! There's rarely need for actually wandering between bookshelves any more. It's as nice as ever, but the books can be reserved online where you probably are anyway doing the research about what to read next.

Re: Helsinki Central Library chosen as the best new public library

#35

Post by WillPostForFood » Tue, Aug 27, 2019, 6:33 PM UTC

zaroth wrote: post #22

This is absolutely the new definition of “library”, and honestly though I came here to criticize an egotistical architectural exercise, after reading more about Oodi I am suitably impressed. $100 million is an extremely good deal for what they got, and they say that includes the equipment? I don’t quite believe they built it for that little. My town (population ~15,000) wanted to build a new library last year — it wa…

Similar story in my city, though the library was built. Took 6 years, $46 million dollars ($10 million over budget), for a two story 40,000 sq foot building. It again raises the question of why projects like this are so hard, expensive, and slow in the US.

Re: Helsinki Central Library chosen as the best new public library

#36

Post by WillPostForFood » Tue, Aug 27, 2019, 6:38 PM UTC

distances wrote: post #34

snazz wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And even though I’m a pretty heavy user of my local library system for reading paper books, I rarely walk in there; usually I find a book online and place a hold on it and then pick it up when they email me that it’s ready.

Exactly! There's rarely need for actually wandering between bookshelves any more. It's as nice as ever, but the books can be reserved online where you probably are anyway doing the research about what to read next.

I agree, but there is something lost in being able to walk the shelves. Serendipitous discoveries, but more importantly, when doing research, just looking at books in a section leads to interesting discoveries of related materials that you don't get when doing searches online.

Re: Helsinki Central Library chosen as the best new public library

#37

Post by distances » Tue, Aug 27, 2019, 6:43 PM UTC

WillPostForFood wrote: post #36

distances wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly! There's rarely need for actually wandering between bookshelves any more. It's as nice as ever, but the books can be reserved online where you probably are anyway doing the research about what to read next.

I agree, but there is something lost in being able to walk the shelves. Serendipitous discoveries, but more importantly, when doing research, just looking at books in a section leads to interesting discoveries of related materials that you don't get when doing searches online.

True enough, and I'm not particularly worried of that going away anytime soon. At some point maybe, but most of the libraries are still filled with shelves and will be for at least some time.

Maybe that changes in the future, which just means that the world has changed. Institutions need to adapt to the needs of each generation.

Re: Helsinki Central Library chosen as the best new public library

#38

Post by jpalomaki » Tue, Aug 27, 2019, 6:47 PM UTC

There have been some complaints about the building, because there’s not that many books.

But the law that governs public libraries actually gives libraries quite wide mission.

Quick automatic translation from the finnish version. Not perfect, but you get the point.

”The purpose of this Act is to promote:

1) equal opportunities for education and culture for the population;

2) access to and use of information;

3) reading culture and diverse literacy;

4) opportunities for lifelong learning and skills development;

5) active citizenship, democracy and freedom of expression.”

https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/2016/20161492

Re: Helsinki Central Library chosen as the best new public library

#39

Post by trm42 » Tue, Aug 27, 2019, 7:07 PM UTC

jpalomaki wrote: post #38

There have been some complaints about the building, because there’s not that many books. But the law that governs public libraries actually gives libraries quite wide mission. Quick automatic translation from the finnish version. Not perfect, but you get the point. ”The purpose of this Act is to promote: 1) equal opportunities for education and culture for the population; 2) access to and use of information; 3) readi…

It's kind of funny that the amount of physical media is criticized. It still has 100k books, movies, magazines and other loanable stuff in total. And it's only one of the libraries in Helsinki region, and into which you can order loanable stuff from the other libraries as well.

Re: Helsinki Central Library chosen as the best new public library

#40

Post by trm42 » Tue, Aug 27, 2019, 7:09 PM UTC

simplecomplex wrote: post #25

It’s cold and uninviting, not a warm and relaxing environment for reading and pondering. You’d think it was a museum not a library. What’s with the recent trend of libraries and coffee shops that look like modern art museums (cold, bright, lack of wood, metal, sharp acoustics..)? I can’t be the only one who notices this.

Actually, in practice Oodi is bright and open place inviting both participation and hanging around. It also has quieter space, separate story and play area for small children, cafes, movie theatre. It's like hanging out in a mall without need to buy anything and everything is open instead of small and closed.