Rautalammin kirjasto – Rautalampi, Finland

Photo Credit: Okko  Kuivalainen

Author: Okko  Kuivalainen

Rautalampi is a municipality of 3300 people, located some 350km to the northeast from Helsinki, the

rautalampi_kyrka
By Louise Vedin (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 ( via Wikimedia Commons)

capital. The regional centre, Kuopio, is some 70km away. The large wooden church, built in 1844, is the main landmark of Rautalampi. The landscape is dominated by forest, lakes and small hills – in other words, typical environment in the eastern parts of Finland.

Despite the small size of the municipality, Rautalampi opened a new library in the late 1980s to replace the old library that operated in an old wooden building. The investment was sizeable for such a small municipality, reflecting the importance placed on development of public libraries in Finland. It is worth noting that the building serves a number of other functions in addition to housing the library; for example, a number of local associations hold their meetings at the library, and the library is available for various events, such as art exhibitions, plays and meetings.

Statistics are readily available: In 2015 the library had a collection of 39,731 books – of these 1,634 were in foreign languages. The library had 37,704 visitors during the year. Going by the numbers, the library records an impressive number of visitors – more than 11 visits per inhabitant per year. The library has a wifi network and there are computer terminals are available to visitors. A large number of newspapers, magazines and DVDs are also available.

My aunt, moved here in the late 1980s as minister of the Rautalampi Kyrka , and has been a semi-frequent user of the library ever since. She has mentioned in the past that the service provided by the local library is excellent, and that the staff truly make an effort to provide assistance to customers. A few months ago, my aunt heard a book review on the radio, and asked the library about the availability of this book the following day. As the book was not available in the library’s collection, the staff decided to order a copy – and my aunt was able to borrow the book soon after. Most impressive!

 

Lake Koskelovesi (Hankavesi, according to the coordinates) in Rautalampi, Finland
By Fanny Schertzer – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11142896

 

Stockholms Stadsbiblioteket – Stockholm, Sweden

Photo Credit: Rupert Ganzer  (CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Author: Suman S.

Suman is a freelance writer/editor in the Technical documentation field with over a decade of experience.  Suman is our dream reader. She chanced on our project online, and as a true library lover, shared this write up and photographs with us, as her response to the project. May her tribe increase!

I specialized in library, documentation and information science for both undergraduate and post graduate studies. I worked in a higher education library for a year, as an intern. But then, I left the field, disillusioned by the unethical ways in getting placed into the profession in those days. There was this top-notch institute, some bad student-faculty relations and everything going wrong. I moved on – in life, from Bangalore to Mumbai (Bombay, then), and from librarianship to technical documentation. That was in the beginning of the new millennium.

Photo Credit: Suman S.

Almost 12-13 years later, I found the love for my subject again. And, it was in Stockholm, the beautiful capital city of Sweden. With its amazing and near-perfect public library network and excellent professionalism, the Stockholm Stad (city) libraries and the librarians there won me back. And ever since, Stockholms Stadsbiblioteket (The Stockholm Public Library) has been my favorite, though I love all the public libraries and the children’s libraries that I visited in Stockholm. I guess, as Stockholm continues to bring back some of my best memories in the last two decades, the public library will always have its special place.

Arendal Bibliotek – Arendal, Aust-Agder, Norway

Photo Credit: Cecilie Stuyvenberg

Author: Cecilie Stuyvenberg

Arendal is a coastal town in the Aust-Agder county of the  Sørlandet region in Norway.  It is a town with a long history of sea faring/shipping due to its close proximity to the ocean. The population of Arendal is around 42,000.

The public library of Arendal is centrally situated on the main square of the town.  The new library was opened in 1998 and ‘the ship’ is the central aesthetic idea of the architect. The interior is modern, open and light and the exterior is designed in the same style as the surrounding buildings. The building houses a number of art pieces on display.

Biblioteca di San Vito al Tagliamento – Pordenone, Italy

Photo Credit: a-piazaa-principale-di-sanvito-al-tagilamento.jpg, Google Images  (free for non commercial use)

Author: David De Giglio

San Vito al Tagliamento is a town in the Italian region Friuli Venezia Giulia, located about 80 kilometres northwest of Trieste and about 100 kilometres northeast of Venice.

 

 

 

The library of San Vito is located in a fifteenth century former convent. In addition to having a collection of modern books (about 24k), there are three special sections: the “ Emeroteca” offering reading newspapers, weekly and monthly magazines, the “Friuli Venezia Giulia region section (which gathers books about the region or written by locals) and the “audiobooks section” where you can loan audiobooks in MP3 format. It also has a historical section consisting of volumes dating from between the 16th and 19th centuries.

San_Vito_al_Tagliamento-Stemma

To be in step with the times the library is equipped with internet stations and free wi fi. Recently a new building has been opened, devoted entirely to kids, where they can go to study, with the help of the library staff.

Students can also try the experience of writing books or short stories and have them “published” and lent to the public. In fact when I was in fifth grade I wrote a short story about a fish and its adventure on the Tagliamento river (river that gives its name to the town), and it’s great to know that after 10 years you can still find the book in the library.

San_Vito_al_Tagliamento_-_Piazza_del_Popolo (Wikimedia Commons)

Biblioteca di Cervignano del Friuli – Udine, Italy

Photo Credit: http://www.abacoforniture.com/realizzazioni/?portfolio=cervignano 

Author: Irene Kruse 

Cervignano del Friuli is a little town located in the Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, in the north-east of Italy.

The town’s library is very intimate, serving a population of only about 14 thousand people. I got acquainted with the library when I moved to Italy a few years back. It was one of the first places my school took me to, since it’s within walking distance. We would go there for projects or conferences very often and there were frequent art exhibitions.

 

 

I remember we went to see a “book reading” performance, a show organized by a little theatre troupe to inspire children and make them understand the great emotions one can get from reading a book. The library continues to present performances like these. Lots of students go there every day to study:it has a very tranquil atmosphere.

de Bibliotheek Hilversum – Hilversum, Netherlands

Photo Credit:  via commons.wikimedia.org obtained by Jaya Ravi

Author: Jaya Ravi

This is the library in our town of Hilversum, which is about 30 Kms from Amsterdam. Though a vast majority of the books are in Dutch, there is also a small collection of English books. I come to the library with my kids and spend an enjoyable hour or two here with them. 

Hilversum Library Kids’ Corner  via commons.wikimedia.org

 

 The most wonderful thing is the cosy corner they have made for the little ones where I sit with my daughter and read out to her. The library has a small theatre, which can be rented to do performances for schools or to conduct talks about books.Some are quite fascinating! To keep up with the modern times they have installed some laptops with few games. There’s also a cafeteria inside the library. The library charges a one time fee of 40 Euros for adults and 10 Euros for children.