| The development of the public libraries in Finland and the Helsinki area: How Finnish libraries came to be spaces for commons? |
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Modern libraries in Finland, the Helmet area, and Helsinki specifically, have been described as living rooms for the citizens. We loan out various material, but also offer services on location, and organize events for and by the city residents. At a Helmet library one can loan out a blood pressure monitor, a radon meter, or a power drill. At the library you can use a computer, a 3D printer, or a sewing machine. Events vary from reading fairy tales for children, to reading groups, to music and movies.
This development has been gradual. While library concerts organized by the library music clubs were crowd magnets already in the 1960s (Laakso 2010, 375), and listening to music with headphones became the most important form of activity… |
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