[deanclatworthy]

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]

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.