Before Aberdeen built its new, glittering, and inclusive library, certain local retrogressives complained that a big bright bookish building would make us too much like Minnesota.
I wonder how many of that 40-percent refusenik segment of our town chafe under our library’s harkening to the values of another Scandinavian haven, Finland, where libraries, especially the new €98-million Oodi central library in Helsinki represent the nation’s commitment to literacy and liberty for all:
At the CityLab DC conference this week, Tommi Laitio, Helsinki’s executive director for culture and leisure, offered his own, more personal take on exactly why this building is so important to Finland’s future.
…Laitio opened his talk not with shots of the building’s sleek interiors but with a sobering image from Finland’s brutal civil war of 1918, which killed 36,000 people, many of whom perished in prison camps.
“This progress from one of the poorest countries of Europe to one of the most prosperous has not been an accident. It’s based on this idea that when there are so few of us—only 5.5 million people—everyone has to live up to their full potential,” he said. “Our society is fundamentally dependent on people being able to trust the kindness of strangers.”
…The central library is built to serve as a kind of citizenship factory, a space for old and new residents to learn about the world, the city, and each other. It’s pointedly sited across from (and at the same level as) the Finnish Parliament House that it shares a public square with.
…Inside and out, the facility is as handsome as Finnish Modernism fans might expect, and it has proved to be absurdly popular: About 10,000 patrons stop by every day, on average (it’s open until 10 p.m.), and Oodi just hit 3 million visitors this year—“a lot for a city of 650,000,” Laitio said. In its very first month, 420,000 Helsinki residents—almost two-thirds of the population—went to the library. Some may only have been skateboarders coming in to use the bathroom, but that’s fine: The library has a “commitment to openness and welcoming without judgement,” he said. “It’s probably the most diverse place in our city, in many ways” [David Dudley, “How Helsinki Built ‘Book Heaven’,” CityLab, 2019.11.01].
Three million visitors to the Oodi—that’s more people than visit Mount Rushmore in a year.
Oodi has 100,000 books, 64 employees, nine living trees, and two cafés. The Helsinki central library just announced a new partnership with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra to allow library users to borrow season tickets to the orchestra’s Spring 2020 concerts. The library is open weekdays from 8 to 22 and weekends 10 to 20.
Public libraries are cornerstones of informed citizenship and community living. They model the universal welcome and sharing of the fruits of civilization that should be found in every corner of our country.
The library is the MOST important building and institution in any community.
There are really people that don’t want to be more like Minnesota? Why?
What a beautiful building! Sigh… Someday, the northern lights and beautiful Scandinavian buildings…
It is a beautiful building.
Porter, it’s the taxes. We pay more in taxes, including a progressive income tax. We have the services to show for it. The last is the part South Dakotans always bypass. They complain about our taxes, but forget about the value we receive. Compare Minnesota to SD in just about any way and we come out ahead. Why? Often our taxes play a role in it. Taxes can add value for a state.
I can see that, Debbo. SD’ers are quite proud that they pay so little in taxes. We liberal states who send SD money every month aren’t quite so impressed. Seems selfish not to raise enough money to pay your own way, though. :0)
Minnesotans are willing to invest in each other, which makes everyone richer. The library contrarians here in Aberdeen would rather starve themselves just to spite the “others” on whom they pin their resentments. See also, Trumpism.