City libraries in Finland are fantastic.
The one I frequent has enormous selections of books, magazines, audio books, films and music (not to mention sheet music!) in three languages, and smaller ones in a few other languages.
You can rent paintings to hang on your wall. Play the piano with headphones. Read magazines you've never even heard of. Join a book club, attend lectures and get personal tutoring on how to make the most of your iPad. Look at art. Eavesdrop on people in the café. Use a scanner or printer. Borrow music online. Hassle the staff with demands on foreign newspapers they should have in the reading room. Pick up second-hand (non-library) books for free at the book exchange table. Bring your laptop and work or study at one of the desks all day. Go look at the fish tank in the children's section. Borrow an interactive course to learn a foreign language or musical instrument. Watch a thunderstorm through the gigantic windows.
Or, most importantly, crawl up in a comfortable chair in a forgotten nook and lose yourself in a book. This library has nooks. Nooks are important.
No comments:
Post a Comment