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How Helsinki Built ‘Book Heaven’
- krn 7y agoPrevious discussions: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20809247 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20809247 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19189631 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19189631 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17111642 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17111642
- keiferski 7y agoIt sounds like a community center, not a library. I’m happy that Helsinki has created a (rather expensive) place where people can work on computers or have meetings - but that doesn’t make it a “book heaven” and it certainly doesn’t help preserve and spread the notion that a book is an inherently valuable thing, one that tends to contain deeper and more insightful knowledge that 99% of the Internet.
- yeahforsureman 7y agoYeah, it actually sucks as a place to read books. Too many tourists and visitors, and too few quiet, comfortable reading spaces. There are much better libraries for such in Helsinki, although some of those good places (eg. smaller Helsinki Uni faculty libraries) have been closed in favour of fancy big "libraries" like this one.
- MrBuddyCasino 7y ago> Yeah, it actually sucks as a place to read books. I wonder if that means that it has failed to achieve its purpose. Libraries were created in an age where books were scarce and expensive. This isn’t really true anymore, except for science or art books. What has become rare are common social spaces where you are not expected to consume. Churches used to be that, but now they’re empty. What about „libraries“ that focus on the social part, not the storing-paper part? Quiet places to read for people who want to leave their apartment, maybe because they’re lonely. Book clubs with discussions to foster intellectual exchange. The equivalent of the coffee houses old, without the blaring pop music of todays chain stores.
- sampo 7y ago> too few quiet, comfortable reading spaces Yes. The whole 3rd floor is open plan, so the noise from the kids play area and from the cafe carries over to the books area. And the magazines section is right next the kids play area, so there it's especially not quiet.
- paganel 7y agoYeah, 100,000 books sounds like a smallish number for a “book heaven”.
- Gravityloss 7y agoI have found interesting books there. I have borrowed and loaned them, read and returned them. I have also read very interesting magazines while having coffee there. Sure there will always be some people complaining. By most metrics, Oodi has been a massive success. If you have some free time and are in the vicinity, it is a great destination.
- Gravityloss 7y agoThe whole Töölönlahti bay area is nice. Oodi is a natural starting point for that. You can walk or bike to Kallio and Töölö, both by the way have their own more traditional libraries. Most tourists tend to instead stay in southern Helsinki which is fine but quite boring in my opinion.
- Hamuko 7y agoIt's actually pretty low on books when it comes to Helsinki Metropolitan Area Libraries.
- jnieminen 7y agoYou can just order a book you want from another library's collection in the metropolitan area and grab it from Oodi. For instance, in Pasila they have over 1.6 million titles [1]. [1] https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helsingin_kaupunginkirjasto https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helsingin_kaupunginkirjasto
- einpoklum 7y agoThis has reminded me I've not visited my town's municipal libraries in ages! So, if you care about libraries and literacy as an aspect of society - especially in the face of the world of brief tweets and text messages, and disappearing wall posts - why not... * Visit your municipality's website (or maybe any search engine) * Look for a map or list of public libraries around you * Go visit one and spend some time there - reading or even just tapping away at your laptop Libraries thrive by attendance after all...
- helle 7y agoshick
- helle 7y agoThats true man
- helle 7y agoi totally agree man
- Jommi 7y agoNot really Book Heaven at all. More like Amazing Community Center. You can host lan parties there, use studio grade audio equipment, 3d printers etc. Its quite massive.
- Jommi 7y agoMore here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20812774 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20812774
- unknown_library 7y agoIf I could design a library, I would throw out all the books. I would have lots of little rooms instead of open spaces. I would toss out all the uncomfortable designer chairs and put in comfortable and ergonomic seats instead. It would really be an office instead of a library, but I think this is what people actually want.
- zozbot234 7y agoSo, like WeWork? That's a nice startup idea.
- billfruit 7y agoThe single most thing that a library could do to be of more use to the public is to stock more books, and from that respect, this does not sound that much of a nice place, they could have a lot, lot more books given the space, but they haven't.
- stevekemp 7y agoBut the other facilities are awesome, I take my child there almost every weekend to play in the play-area, read books and generally hang out. They have board-games, 3d-printers, computers, and lots of things. It is a very social-space, not just a "be quiet and take books".
- asmala 7y agoIn my experience, the size of the collection in any given library building is never much of an issue as you can always order books for very low fees from any library in the country. Because of this, the other facilities are a much bigger value-add than a larger on-site collection.
- timonoko 7y agoBTW. I think Dang had shadow-banned all Helsinki library computers. Throwaways did not work last time I tried.