I grew up in the local library because my father was a librarian.  It was my second living room.  The old building in the center of Ekenäs in southern Finland was for many a sanctuary. When you walked through the cranky door the smell of a wood burning fire gave you a feeling of comfort. It was quiet and calm and a space which welcomed anyone.

My father read children’s books and showed the pictures in the books as slides.  I remember Elsa Beskow’s books especially well because of all the wonderful illustrations. We sat on the wooden floor in the children’s corner and the slide projector was humming and my fathers voice was comforting.

Putte i blåbärsskogen

As Heather Anne Halpert‏@blurryyellow writes in a tweet “A library offers “an indoor public space in which you do not have to buy anything in order to stay”. It is quite amazing that we still have these uncolonized public spaces in our cities.