If there
ever was a library that wanted to make you fly, it would be Oodi. Self-proclaiming:
“we make you want to reach the sky”, the architecture even from the outside, has
impact.
Opening impressions
A salute
again to progressive Finnish architecture and style. The wood texture contrasts majestically against a
harsh grey Finnish sky. Reminiscent of an elegantly undulating airplane hangar.
My background in libraries
Having
known ‘Knowledge hubs’ intimately in my time as a ‘Knowledge worker” (otherwise
known as a librarian), I have had the pleasure of being a team member in the planing consulation for a new University library at ECU and as a Manager with further
involvement of designing the library at the Desert Peoples’ Centre in Central
Australia. This is something I need to follow up on now, ten years later. My experiences may sound exotic and at the cutting edge of an
Information Professional’s career, and they were. However at the time, it was a massive learning curve and the best place I could find myself was among a great nest of
supportive co-workers who knew each other well. It is on this basis, through
relationships of trust and mutual respect that one can put forth their opinions
and ideas for the benefit of the library’s development with the core objective
in mind: how will it benefit the user… because clientele are the reason
libraries exist in the first place. Lest we forget.
Function
Yesssss
Oooooodi is amazing! Yesssssss it’s wonderous! Yessss, it’s all that we ever
wanted it to be! Imagine, Info desks available, just as the first questions
come into your mind.. Is this a library or an airport? How do I find what I need? How do I access the library?
Where are the books? The return
chutes greet me upon entry, like mini conveyer belts; ready
to take my books beyond the walls.
Stepping onto take
the conveyer belt of folding steps up into the tiers of library heaven I follow the crowds. My photos have been taken on two different occasions, by the way. One before the grand opening and one on the day of..
Services
Glass booths crammed with stern groupworkers taking themselves seriously greet me as I rise to 2nd floor heaven. My cynicism kicks in. These members of the public had made a special effort to access the online booking system early and deliberately selected these ‘display rooms’. 
I think back to the planning of open space, flow, glass walls all to encourage free form thinking. But I can’t help but think here, are these guys just showing off? Or perhaps it gives their work validity: I am seen to be important, therefore I am.
I think back to the planning of open space, flow, glass walls all to encourage free form thinking. But I can’t help but think here, are these guys just showing off? Or perhaps it gives their work validity: I am seen to be important, therefore I am.
Accessibility
2nd
floor is pure function, a new aged indoor amphitheater of steps curve away from
our traditional concept of the structure. As I follow the curve around, I come
across the 3D printers, poster machines, meeting room after meeting room. The
oversized media desk gives me the impression libraries have allowed IT geeks to
find their place is society. One thing that I can’t escape is the transient
nature of the library users. Now I hesitate at using the words ‘users’ as I
once did so vehemently. Single couches lined along in small packs, filled with space-shifters
sitting in transit.
Surrounded by suitcases and looking around as if waiting
for something.
Oodi looks remarkably like a boarding lounge I think as I try to
be excited by the glass enclosed workrooms. Sign after sign, I follow the
function. Media rooms,
music rooms, meeting rooms…
Level 3… the heavens
Wow! Is
what I breathe out to myself as the escalator delivers me to the footsteps of
the intended vision. Reminiscent of the new Amos Rex, I see a heavenly theme in the internal architecture reaching to the echelons. The ceiling invites us to look up and feel inspiration one cannot
deny.
The library is all we ever wanted. Buzzing hub like functions. People
collaborating over coffee and cake; families chatting loudly. Individuals
hiding in the hollow chairs, cutting themselves off from everyone. From here I
am able to see significant Helsinki landmarks and I know that was a
deliberate decsion to allow the library user to soak up culture from the great library space.
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| Finlandiatalo |
On opening day, I try to find a place to sit. A place for me, to sit in
solitude. Each chair has a bum in it. Each sofa has someone stretched out, the
writing desks are filled with people trying to get their work done.
One end of
heaven is filled with lively children unaware of the necessity of personal
space and quiet minds, the other end filled with tourists marveling at the
contemporary building designs.
Books
I try to
lose myself in the rows of shelves but they all come abruptly to and end as the
traffic flows between the gaps. Collections come short as the demand for the
novel is high again. and I think to myself, "but isn’t this what we all wanted
from a library?" I search peoples’ faces for a quiet satisfaction and find it
particularly in the parents' faces of the children who are playing happily.
How is this for the library user? And I guess, I put myself in that
position now and can only answer for myself. Is this ok for Finns to be with
such little personal space? but on this day, that is the Grand opening, I realise, there aren't just Finns here. This is an international space. I look around, as I can’t find a space to sit
and think, In among the commotion of the contemporary core, in the demand for the shifting library function, the voices in my head call me back to my heroes. My role models in my early learning days in libraries and I think to self: How has this affected the staff?
Well, this is what we all wanted. this is what we all addressed, us
in our teams of go-getters. the 'hub' of activity bombards me with the
realization: ‘you can’t have it all’. The quiet library is so passé. How can we find that balance. The work-life balance we were all calling for in the mid-nineties has been washed away with the demand to be current. I can’t help but
think that perhaps, we should have listened to the quiet librarian who spoke so
earnestly in her reminder to us that we must remain true to the core function
of what a library provides for its users. And I am torn now between the
excitable me, the me who loves collaborative workspace, the me who loves fun
interaction, the me who loves to challenge the norm. The information hub, the
knowledge access centre, seems to be missing a certain part of its soul.
Cutting edge, yea, contemporary, yes, ground breaking, yes, culturally inspiring. A small librarian bell rings inside
of my head as I lift my index finger to my lips and quietly mutters the sounds:
SSSShhhhhhhhhhhhhh! and then I remember, that the extreme busy-ness was for the grand opening.
And as I live here now in Finland and visit Oodi in winters' deepest times and in moments of necessity.. necessity to belong, necessity of vibrancy, necessity of information, necessity of opportunity, necessity of hope, of belonging to a community, of belief that there is something greater than our norm, I look to Oodi for my escape.