Hei!
My name is Mina. I am from Essen in Germany and I am a second year apprentice at the city library Mülheim an der Ruhr to become a library assistant.
At the moment I work in the Seinäjoki library as an intern through Erasmus+ and I noticed a few differences.
But first something both libraries have in common. The thing, and I think it is a thing that is international, is that the library wants to accomplish becoming a third place, a living room outside your own home, a safe place for everyone and a benefit for the community. The feeling of home as soon as you enter the library here in Seinäjoki is almost overwhelming. They definitely achieved that accomplishment and I hope to bring a part of that feeling home to Germany.
Now let us have a look at the differences.
Seinäjoki is part of the big library network Eepos Web Library and offers a lot of things to lent beside books, like DVDs, CDs, sport utensils, stimming toys for neurodivergent people and even tickets for sportgames. Inside Apila library is a café where you can eat lunch and you can browse the floating collection everyday of the week, even on Sundays. If you want to become a member you can just speak to a librarian and get a personal card for free and forever.
In Germany the libraries are not protected by law, they are a voluntary cultural institution of the city and need to generate income to be of financial value. That means to become a member at our library you have to pay a yearly fee to be able to lend the media we have to offer. But you can still use the library as the place itself for free.
We have four floors in our library building which is called “Medienhaus” (=mediahouse). On the ground-floor you can find young adult and adult fiction to read and listen to, DVDs, console games and guidebooks. The first floor is our information and adult non-fiction area. The children section and family media are located on the second floor and the third floor is an open space with a lot of opportunities to sit and study or work in a quiet enviorment. It also is used for all kinds of different events.
All those floors allow a lot of space for bookshelves and for us to display our collection in a way that is appealing to the eye. Less crowded shelves mean a lot of book presentations and the possibility to sort everything in specific groups.
Which is another difference between our two libraries: the labels on the books. Here in Seinäjoki you find the numbers of the Finnish Public Libraries Classification System on the labels, in Mülheim we use something called plaintext, for example instead of „84.2“ and small under it „Jän“, the label would just directly say „Krimi“ (=crime). We would also write the name of the book series with the volume number on the label and we write the first four to six letters of the authors name and not only the first three, that allows us to sort them better and find them quicker if needed.
After all I definitly found some things I like better in Seinäjoki, like lending a sportsgame ticket or having a café in the building and some I like better in Mülheim, like the open shelves and the more precise labeling.
I would love to integrate some of the finnish concepts at my library, especially the coffee breaks and lunch at 11ish. That habit did not need long to find its way into my heart.
Kiitos!
Mina on ollut vaihdossa Seinäjoella, ja kertoo tekstissä oman kirjastonsa ja Seinäjoen kirjaston välillä havaitsemistaan eroista.