Finland, a nation of book lovers, builds 98m Euro library for citizens as 100th birthday gift

I saw the above picture this morning and said to myself... wow, what a nice cartoon.

Then by the one of the pictures I saw an inscription..

"Oodi Library, a 100th Birthday present to the nation of book lovers, Finland"

Oodi Library?

Yes, Oodi Libary! I can spend whole day writing about my "wow".

In short, these pictures are different views of the Oodi Library in Finland. It was opened today. (5th December, 2018).

The project started in 2012, at a cost of 98 Euros. The government contributed around 30 million Euros, and the Citi of Helsinki, where the Library is situated, funded the rest.

The government said it's a 100th Brithday Gift to it's citizens. That is 100 years after Finland's independence.

Below is a short description from one of media outlet.

"The flagship library for a nation of booklovers, Oodi sets a new standard for public libraries around the world. With a mandate to promote lifelong learning, active citizenship, democracy and freedom of expression, Oodi embraces technology and progressive values to provide a variety of innovative services alongside its lending collection of books." Source:-- WASHINGTON, Dec. 3, 2018 /PRNewswire/

What PRNewswire said above matches perfectly with what the Mayor of Helsinki said:

"Library services are an investment in people. By developing our people we are preparing our society for the coming era, where knowledge, ideas and culture are the commodities that a successful city will trade with the world. The principle that knowledge is for everybody is a long-established component of the success of Finnish society and essential foundation of a city built on trust between government and citizens. Helsinki is a world leader in the knowledge economy and the opening of Oodi reinforces its pre-eminence: this library represents a collective commitment to knowledge and its role in a more equal society where access to resources and equality of opportunity are encouraged for all." -- Jan Vapaavuori, Mayor of said:

The sentence I like most is:

"By developing our people we are preparing our society for the coming era, where knowledge, ideas and culture are the commodities that a successful city will trade with the world"

That is true. And it matches perfectly with Internet of Things (IOT) where information rules.

Library description:

1. The library sits comfortably on a 17,250 sq m land. I did little googling to compare that figure to the size of a standard football field in Wamfie, my home town. That is more than 2 standard football fields.
2. It was designed by Finnish architecture firm ALA Architects, led by Juho Grönholm, Antti Nousjoki and Samuli Woolston. About 544 companies bid for the contract.
3. Oodi Library is a responds to the country's 2017 update of its public libraries act, which established a mandate for libraries to promote lifelong learning, active citizenship, democracy and freedom of expression.
4. The physical books in it are not that much... Just about 100,000. The reason is, they've really made use of technology. With the click of a button, or wave of a hand, anyone in the library will have access to over 3 million online collections.

Just few things about Finland..

• In 2016, Finland was ranked as the number 1 literate country in the world. 99% of the population are literate
• They have a population of 5.5 million
• Averagely, they borrow about 68 million books. That means, each person borrows averagely 12 books a year.
• Finland spent €57 ($65.4) per citizen on library services in 2017. This compares with $39.34 in the US (*2). Finland was named the world's most literate nation in 2016.

Finland is trying to redesign their entire education system. They are doing everything to end -Chew-pour-Pass-Forget System.

I hope we will learn a lot from this as a country. The best way to celebrate our annual Independence Day.

Needless to say, I'm Kaunda. I love the Internet.

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