Can We Reimagine the Library?
As lawyers, we’re interested in knowledge. In law school and as fledgling lawyers, we spend a lot of time in libraries studying, researching and writing. I would guess that most of us who studied in North American libraries are used to silence, no eating allowed, and a scarcity of electrical plugs. Also, there’s books, lots of them. Over the last few years, we’re trending towards online reading and resources, and there’s often no need to check out the local library at all. Libraries are realizing this and trying to modernize to provide alternative services to books. Toronto libraries are switching from the typical cubicle-style sitting centers to new-aged modular and egg-shaped chairs, some libraries offer recording studios, 3D printing, computers available for use with internet access, and even seed-sharing programs – all of these are fantastic ideas to reinvent the old stuffy library into something new. But, libraries are mostly still a place of silence. Not in Helsinki – Oodi is something special.
Oodi – Three Magnificent Floors
Oodi is three magnificent floors of gorgeous architecture surrounded by gardens and large gathering spaces. The library even offers garden games for rental so people can enjoy the outdoors. In a world where we buy everything, enjoy it once or twice in a year, and then stick it on a dusty forgotten shelf at home. Oodi is about sustainability, less waste, less plastic and reducing the carbon footprint. A big contributor to the carbon footprint is the manufacturing and buying of “stuff”. Oodi’s premise is about providing things to use whenever you like, without having to own them.
The first floor is “for meeting” (Helsinki Central Library, Brochure). Here, “you can lend and return books, go to the movies, or stop for lunch” (Ibid, p. 10), but what is actually happening there is mind-blowing. I walked into a group of beaders hanging out at tables. People of all different abilities were participating in an enjoyable hobby, collectively. Others were having coffees or going into movie theatres.
The second-floor workshops and studios, “are open spaces for everyone to learn and create” (Ibid, p. 12). This is not a quiet library, it is a social gathering. There are hoards of young people lounging with electrical outlets galore, reading, studying and socializing. I have never seen this many 20-somethings gathered in one space outside of a concert or club. Right across from the 20-somethings are the sewing machines, 3D printers, gathering rooms for gamers, Virtual Reality spaces, meeting rooms for lecturing, a completely equipped cooking room where people come together for a cooking class or just to create food together. I was most in awe by the wall of instruments available for rent. People can rent instruments and then take them directly into recording studios, or work on podcasts, or try their hand at “mixing” music or records. Library staff assisted people with using the 3D printers, working the sewing machines and other creative equipment – this is what we’re missing in North America.
There is no need to buy expensive electronic equipment, people can just try things out. The staff shifts from cataloguing, putting away and signing out books to active educators teaching library card holders how to do things. I saw one woman mending some pants and thought about how much I wish I had a place to go and mend my clothes without dragging a clunky sewing machine out of the basement once a year and dealing with the entire “pile” at the same time. It would be great to have someone there who could help me re-learn how to turn on the machine, thread the needles and not step on the pedal too hard! I wish! And, as someone who creates audio and video recordings for my compliance educational business, how great would it be to have the equipment available and not have to buy it, rent it, or rent space each time you wanted to create something?
By the third floor, it fully sunk in how lucky the Finnish people were to have Oodi. This floor has the stuff that’s in normal libraries, books, but also boardgames for rent, a café, and a massive indoor play area for the kids. Every shoeless child was reading, running around on the carpets and play structures, having snacks with their parents and having a blast. I also think the parents were having fun. A nice safe space where the little ones can play with each other while moms and dads sip on espresso is heavenly. Combining books and play in a loud and comfortable setting will create generations of lifelong readers who see learning as part of play. Also, it’s Finland. It gets cold there and I can imagine that in the winter, there is nothing better than bringing your kid to the library for the day.
Creating a Library Community
When I think of the “library”, I think of the hours of studying for school, writing assignments, stressing out about the bar exams and finding rare caselaw to finish off that Factum for that Partner. I remember taking a break only for lunch outside and then going back in to study some more late into the evening. It was serious and it was always a grind.
When people go to the library to have fun, when it is accessible to all, when it’s ok to be loud, laugh and try new things, it creates happy memories of the library and cultivates a love of reading and experimentation. Oodi claims that:
“Finns hold the world record for library use: we loan more books from libraries than any other nation on this planet.”
(Ibid, p. 16)
Going to Oodi, it isn’t hard to see why Finns love their libraries and use them to the fullest.
*This blog is not legal advice.