What nation can really be called one of the most read

You know, the Russian man is so used to imaginary conviction that he lives in the most reading country in the world, that he simply cannot help but poke this fact convenient for him in some kind of conversation. Newspaper headlines, which like to shout about it from the main pages, are not far behind, especially not clinging to the basis of the origin of such statistics. The myth of reading in Russia has been embedded in the subcortex of our brain for years and still continues to be supported by extremely dubious world statistics.

In Soviet times, the system of distributing books to schools, libraries, state bookstores and other educational institutions showed decent results. The party said it was necessary, and the multimillion-dollar runs of permitted fiction, mingling with the summaries of the last congress of the CPSU, dispersed throughout the country. Mayakovsky can, Brodsky can not, Sholokhov - in huge print runs, and Dovlatov - underground samizdat. This edition today, which has a circulation of 10,000 copies, is considered to have exploded a literary field in our country, and somewhere abroad, in uneducated and non-reading countries, some authors are published in hundreds of thousands of copies.

If you beat Google with information about the nation that reads itself, information about Russia immediately appears on the monitor, though it is supported not by some weighty facts, but by some polls, and, as RBC news says, 59% of Russians said about the GfK research company that is read daily or at least once a week. Naturally, in such studies, we fall into the top ten most readable countries, but forget that the average American reads 12 books a year, and Russian - 3.

And the Finns? So they do not belong to the reading nation itself. In the capital of this small country, where a little more than half a million people live, only 37 libraries fit in, which annually give readers some 9 million books. The development of the book fund in a non-reading nation is supported by the state, and libraries are constantly appearing or modernizing in the city. The new so-called "folk" library was no exception.

Oodi Folk Library in Helsinki

By the centenary of Finland’s independence in Helsinki, they decided not to build some kind of useless monument, but a library with a heavy budget of 98 million euros. The place for her was chosen extremely successful, located in the very center of the city, not far from the railway station, bus station and city parliament.

True, the city authorities decided that in the near future the tunnel would cross this place, so it was decided to make the new building look like a long hundred-meter bridge. There were rumors among the local population, supposedly they also came up with a concept based on this information, and the first floor is the space under the bridge, and the third floor is above the bridge. Although the architects themselves from the Finnish bureau ALA Architects, who implemented this project, talk about a slightly different purpose.

According to their idea, the first floor was a continuation of the city square and in its concept, the creators adhered to the desire to create the perfect meeting place. Here they opened a cozy and budget restaurant with business lunches, put comfortable armchairs, and in the far corner a small movie theater was completely fussed. The director of the library, Anna Maria Soininvaara, without modesty calls Oodi "the Helsinki living room", where both residents and visitors can come.

It is worth noting separately that people chose the internal “stuffing” for the library on their own, and officials sprinkling paths with their own sand did not tell Finnish youth how to live and how to equip the temple with books. We conducted a survey, and the most popular ideas were embodied on the second floor of the building. What did the Finnish population want to see in the new building?

Computers, but would you really surprise anyone by their presence in the library? But almost free 3D printers, where you only need to pay for consumables, a vinyl cutter, an overlock and an embroidery machine make you not only humanly envy, but also clap your hands joyfully. So there are also fashionable printers with UV printing.

Finns are quite musical people, and their groups are known outside their native country, therefore the idea of ​​placing a recording studio in the library resonated with the people and it was realized in the best possible way. Inside there are drum sets, synthesizers and, of course, microphones. Record for a specific time and record your new album. Cool?

What else is there? Oodi hosts master classes in drawing comics and projections, there is a games room for adult boys of all ages with installed Xbox-s. There is a designer corner where children learn to create images, well, a real kitchen for cooking classes.

But what about the third floor? It completely immerses you in a book paradise with panoramic glazing and an open observation deck. Here, in addition to a collection of various essays, there is also a small cafe, taking a mug of coffee, you can fall into a sitting room, enjoy reading books, free Wi-Fi, well, or chat with friends on elevated topics. If necessary, publications are available in Russian, Arabic, Turkish and even Somali.

How do you like this library? By the way, how long has a new library appeared in St. Petersburg, in the cultural capital of the most reading nation, and how large is it? And how many people a day go through her door?

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