A second living room in the heart of the city

The nature of the archipelago islands, the lakes, forests and of course beautiful Helsinki. Finland had plenty to offer when I spent a week in the country last year. What has stuck with me most since my trip is the Central Library Oodi, which opened in 2018 in the capital. It was voted the world's best library in 2019, and rightly so, as I would like to emphasise in this text.

The building, which is already impressive from the outside with its distinctive form, also has much to offer on the inside. When you enter the large entrance area, the chess tables immediately catch your eye, inviting you to play. On the further floors you will find generous seating areas for reading or working, as well as a cafeteria and even a children's play area. Everything is designed so that you could spend hours or entire days there, as if in a second living room. In addition, alongside books, magazines and newspapers, you will find facilities such as 3D printers and sewing machine workstations in the "Urban Workshop", right next to recording studios for music, photography and video.

This concept of the library of things has long since existed on a smaller scale not only in Finland or Scandinavia, but has also found its way into German libraries in recent years. What the Helsingin keskustakirjasto Oodi has perfected, however, is the idea of the municipal library as a place of creation and as a social meeting point. By the age of digitalisation and smartphones at the latest, libraries have lost their monopoly on information provision. So why should they only offer books and other media? Libraries can simultaneously be a space of creation. For example, by offering creative or academic writing courses and opportunities to produce music. Similarly, one should also be able to simply linger, read and participate in reading circles in order to exchange ideas with other people.

Because in our society, such places are disappearing – places that sociologist Ray Oldenburg referred to as "third places". These are meant to provide, alongside our living space and workplace, an opportunity to be among people without major barriers. What is important here is their inclusive character, so that social status is of little significance. In this regard, good accessibility and availability are advantageous, for example through long opening hours, a central location and, especially now in winter, a warm roof over one's head.

If this could strengthen social cohesion, provide equal opportunities and stimulate democratic life, why are there increasingly fewer places that meet all these criteria? 

Whether through Corona, gentrification, generally rising costs or the shift of life into the digital realm – there are fewer and fewer opportunities to be in the company of other people, at least without the obligation to consume. After all, even meeting in a café or visiting the beer garden in summer – both third places in Oldenburg's sense – cannot do without this.

Finnish citizens, however, can have a library card issued to them free of charge, and it entitles them to access all libraries nationwide. You only have to pay, if at all, for materials you consume yourself. A city or state naturally has to be able and willing to afford this – Finland spent 100 million euros alone on Helsinki's central library – but it could be an answer to the problem of disappearing meeting places.

For us Würzburg students, the university library as a place of learning and work is, according to Oldenburg, rather a "second place". I missed this painfully on the closure days at the beginning of the new year with an eye to the approaching exam period. That is why I am convinced that the university library in this form is very important and is well used by us students. For me it is also a good way to separate the work associated with the university spatially from my shared flat room, my "first place". That is why I do not want to downplay the opportunities offered to us here in comparison. After all, the libraries of our university already offer, alongside study workstations, opportunities to linger, rest and socialise: break rooms, seating areas or the newspaper lounge, where rarely only students spend time.

So the question remains at the end, which Helsinki also posed to its citizens before planning began: What do we want from our libraries – should they be quiet or diverse?