Helsinki Central Library chosen as the best new public library

https://www.oodihelsinki.fi/en/helsinki-central-library-oodi-chosen-as-the-best-new-public-library-in-the-world/

by late • 7 years ago

169 50 7 years ago

late• 7 years ago

This is interesting due to the concept of Oodi being totally different from most libraries and only to some extent fitting the definition of a library [1].

Oodi is more of a living meeting place for people where you can play board games, video games, make art, 3D prints, music and such. It might be dubbed as a library to ensure that its visitors have a vague understanding of the place i.e. it's free to use all the services and open to anyone.

[1] "A library is a curated collection of sources of information and similar resources.." as per Wikipedea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library

blakesterz• 7 years ago

"Oodi is more of a living meeting place for people where you can play board games, video games, make art, 3D prints, music and such."

Ask any librarian today and they'll say that's what a library is now. Or at least that's probably what they want their library to be now. This probably only goes for public librarians.

fhbdukfrh2• 7 years ago

My love of wandering through the stacks of a library is definitely nostalgia-driven but there's something about being around mountains of books that is exciting. Probably the same reason people like old record stores, flea markets and bargain stores like winners...

tow21• 7 years ago

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.

tenaciousDaniel• 7 years ago

This is how I felt about the New York Public Library. It's famous; everyone goes there. There's even a Gutenberg Bible there.

But I've been 2-3 times and I never found a book. It's like the books are all deliberately hidden, it's infuriating.

SolaceQuantum• 7 years ago

The NYPL In Bryant Park? Basement floor hallway past the bathrooms. There’s a separate entrance for it also on 42nd st? I go there all the time for books and free public restrooms. The big NYPL space is for all the other things libraries do, like workspaces, meeting spaces, etc. I think there’s also a very rare book section but that requires special permission.

BeepBoop2k• 7 years ago

The main building at Bryant Park is a research library. It's beautiful - but it doesn't have much circulation, just items of interest for researchers.

The Mid-Manhattan branch is a HUGE circulation library. It's across the street from the main library but confusingly enough - it's in the middle of being renovated so, for now, its colocated in the basement of the main library and a subset of its collection is available. It is _very_ browsable.

trm423• 7 years ago

Actually, it’s awesome that they have realized that the definition of library is changing from a store of media into place where people can meet and hang around and do stuff together. There isn’t that much of public space for people unless you’re attending some school. And in case somebody asks, hanging outside in Finnish winter is not that fun all the time ;D

I’ve visited Oodi a lot more than traditional libraries as I already have the need for books satiated with Kindle and such.

clarkmoody• 7 years ago

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

knolax• 7 years ago

To be fair I don't think I've found the exact book I was looking for in any library before. As book dispenseries libraries are inherently inferior to just downloading off of Libgen. However they do function very well as a place for you to physically sit in while you're on Libgen.

fhbdukfrh2• 7 years ago

The Calgary public library has a pretty decent online holds system that will transfer physical goods to your local branch within a day or so. I've never been to out fancy new downtown branch that cost a fortune but hear the focus is definitely not on books or even media, but social activities. I find this disappointing because IMO we still need physical repositories of knowledge; they are the unifying hub around a broad audience but specific purpose

decebalus1• 7 years ago

Heh... that's my take on the Seattle public library. First time I visited it, It gave me anxiety. I fucking hate it and refuse to visit it. Part of it feels like some Eastern European communist polytechnic institute, other parts feel like it's a scene from blade runner. Grabbing a book and reading it by the shelf is the last thing I want to do. It's a weird building with a weird vibe designed to be anything but a library. I honestly don't like this trend of architecting 'interesting' buildings which serve little use to its intended purpose.

Turns out I wasn't the only one thinking this: https://www.seattlepi.com/ae/article/On-Architecture-How-the...

davepeck• 7 years ago

I have a lot of friends who are in your camp. Me? I love the Seattle Central library and have found some happy nooks where I can comfortably read for hours. By far my most favorite part of the library is level 8: endless sheet music and a couple of piano practice rooms nearby.

deanclatworthy• 7 years ago

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.

polemic• 7 years ago

I've spent some time working and using the space there and my impression was very different. Kids (and adults) using the games rooms, lots of interesting projects going on at the 3D printers, sewing machines and graphics computers, heaps of people working in various nooks, there were a few small concerts, family's enjoying the kids area. It is undeniably a beautiful building, but it also felt like a community space that was servicing it's visitors exceptionally well.

jdietrich• 7 years ago

it’s absolutely useless if you want to go and browse some shelves and borrow some books

Libraries cannot survive by catering to a smaller and smaller subset of people who are habituated to using a mostly obsolete technology. On a cost-per-loan basis, most libraries would save money by closing their doors forever and simply buying books from Amazon whenever someone asks for one. Local governments look at the lending data and quite rightly wonder whether the money could be better spent on a thousand other things.

To secure their future, libraries are becoming a sort of egalitarian third space. They provide internet access for people who don't have it and training for people who have been left behind by technology. They provide a place to relax and socialise for people who can't afford a $4 coffee. They provide a venue for community events. They provide young people with opportunities to engage in the kind of self-guided learning that actually matters today.

AriaMinaei• 7 years ago

In the library, next to a row of regular PCs for internet surfing, they have a couple of beefed up workstations for CG artists and video editors and even data scientists. The workstations had super juicy internals, connected to large displays, and came with a very nice Wacom tablet!

pm90• 7 years ago

When I was in Austin, Texas I checked out the new library. It’s fucking awesome, reminded me of hogwarts with its staircases and shit.

hsnewman• 7 years ago

I live in Austin and the new library has everything (except alot of books...).

zaroth• 7 years ago

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 was voted down as unnecessary — at a cost of almost ~$30 million for a two story 30,000 sq. ft building.

Oodi’s 185,000 square feet is an exquisite leisure center, and with up to 20,000 visitors a day sounds like a fantastic investment for Helsinki.

WillPostForFood2• 7 years ago

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.

hn_throwaway_99• 7 years ago

Wow, where does it say $100 million? Austin opened a new central library recently, and while I was originally skeptical I think they did an amazing job - really cozy, human-centered architecture that's beautiful. I love going there to work and read, and it's become my favorite building in Austin.

But it was considerably more than $100 million (I think around $125), so kudos to the Finns for such a great job.

zepearl• 7 years ago

I guess that one of the real problem are the recurring yearly fixed & variable costs of the facility after it has been built (which is often "forgotten" by the politician/s that try to push a project to get votes), which might be a bit challenging for such a small town (~15'000) if it has to maintain as well other existing structures (e.g. swimming pool, museum, etc...).

My town (~10'000) has a library, 3 schools, a big outdoor public swimming pool that can be used as well during wintertimes (gets covered by a roof) + another small swimming pool in one of the schools, a modern art museum, an ice rink, an athletics & football stadium, 3 indoor gyms (a big public one for national competitions + 2 small ones usually used by the schools), a parkour track in the woods, a theatre, a cinema, (maybe I've forgotten something) => it was absolutely no problem building them, but the $ needed for the maintenance&depreciation of the structures and the salaries of the employees was underestimated => now that the town is not anymore in the "big boom"-phase we have a huge budget problem (I'd like to get rid first of the modern art museum but apparently the opposition is very strong and well-connected).

simplecomplex• 7 years ago

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.

jhbadger• 7 years ago

At least in the US, the minimalistic design style where things are "cold and bright" is called "Scandinavian Design", which makes it rather appropriate for Helsinki. Personally, I like the style and find it more cheerful than the dark wood and stone "Victorian" style that is traditional to libraries.

trm423• 7 years ago

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.

enra• 7 years ago

I'm a Finn but been living in SF for the last few years. Went to Oodi couple of weeks ago was impressed by the facilities and the building. In addition to books, there were workstations, 3D printers, large format printers, sewing machines, video games, board games, kids play area, restaurant, and a cafe. Our startup also worked there for one day. There is free Wifi, a lot of chairs and places to sit and even meeting rooms you can book. Noise levels are also quite low that you can read or work, much better than in a regular cafe even in the large open spaces. They have seemed to have worked a lot on the acoustics.

There are also books you can read, borrow and return. The book selection seemed more recent/popular, not a lot of old books (still it has 100k books). To those that comment on the how little books there are: There are several other libraries in Helsinki that house old and vast amounts of books. Helsinki has nearly 40 public libraries and numerous scholarly libraries: https://www.myhelsinki.fi/en/see-and-do/sights/helsinki%E2%8...

Overall it feels like a great place for people to go outside of their home or office to read, meet with people, take their kids to, and for free.

I uploaded a few mobile photos and videos if anyone is interested: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/z7ez8rhisktpaac/AAD7xd6xsCESP6LhJ...

kiliantics• 7 years ago

The Omni in Oakland has all of this and more but is entirely owned and run by the member community:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zccga90hcY

Shame that government in the US does not invest in such resources for the community.

dluan• 7 years ago

What if we gave the community of upstarts and creatives that run the Omni the same $100m budget of the Oodi library?

I've been to the Omni space where Counter Culture Labs is - and while it's cool that it is completely organic and has a great supportive and local feel, it also really feels cobbled together and limited.

At least with lots of tool libraries popping up around the US, there's volunteers who just hang out and get involved with projects that people bring in.

Imagine if that was the new kind of 'librarian' job - coder, fabricator, artist, designer, community oral historian, and archivist.

Noos• 7 years ago

In addition to books, there were workstations, 3D printers, large format printers, sewing machines, video games, board games, kids play area, restaurant, and a cafe.

...these things are tremendous sunk costs that will need to be constantly paid for if they are to be useful.

You need to train staff how to use, service, and do light maintenance on the 3-D printers. You need to dedicate staff to supervise people using them and answer questions, as well as ensure patrons aren't using them incorrectly or monopolizing them. You need to have service contracts to maintain them periodically, and given constant or standard innovation, you may have to replace them every ten years or less entirely.

If you pick poorly, you may not be able to use them effectively at all.

These things are not sustainable long term. You're going to end up slowly paring all of the fancy tech related stuff as it breaks down and becomes obsolete, because budgets simply can't afford them

minikites• 7 years ago

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

jpalomaki• 7 years ago

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

trm423• 7 years ago

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.

Gravityloss• 7 years ago

I personally have found good books and loaned from Oodi. Mostly about music.

Regular libraries with more books in general tend to have a similar "hit rate" for me. If you are in Helsinki and want to visit a nice more classical library, Kallion kirjasto and Töölön kirjasto are easily accessible by tram or electric scooter. Kallio is old and nice and Töölö is by Alvar Aalto.

Mediterraneo10• 7 years ago

I no longer live in Helsinki, but I am curious how quick the local homeless and the Balkan Roma migrants have been to settle into Oodi as a free, warm place to hang out at during the day. Starting from around 2010 there started to be examples of “defensive architecture” in the Helsinki city center to discourage those two demographics from hanging around, e.g. removing the once ample seating at the entrance to the Kirjasto 10 library that Oodi supersedes. Such architectural changes had a small but nevertheless rather unsavory impact on the center.

xornox• 7 years ago

Oodi is not very good as a library. I do not understand what are criterias for this choice. There is only one quite small, noisy and restless floor for books. If I should visit in a library, Oodi would be the last option.

Helsinki Central Library chosen as the best new public library

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