Kuhmo City Library: People are drawn to stories
With libraries, their work, and free access to information under increasing threat around the world, B+P and the Melbourne UNESCO City of Literature Office reached out to libraries in other designated cities of literature to ask them about their libraries, their systems, their triumphs, their challenges, and the messages they want to share with the world.
This week we hear from the Kuhmo City Library in Finland:
In 1880, Kuhmo’s first library was founded, moving through different locations before its final and current location – the banks of Pajakkajoki River. The library’s permanent building is often referred to as ‘Atalante’, which is not only the name of the winning design for the library building in 1984, but also the name of the canal barge in Jean Vigo’s film L’Atalante.
Winning architect Jyrki Tasa chose this name to reflect the library as a ship that brings knowledge and art to the public. Deputy library director and head of culture Aino Ainali said, ‘Today, Kuhmo City Library is a meeting point, a source for information and experiences and, in a way, a shared living room outside of one’s own home.’
Kuhmo City Library in Finland
This feeling of community and warmth is reflected in the library’s environment. Local artists’ works line the walls, including Antti Leinonen’s nature photographs and Ariadna Donner’s richly textured tapestry. Visitors can also visit a permanent display of the different editions of The Kalevala, the Finnish national epic compiled from Karelian and Finnish oral folklore and mythology. Children can gather and listen to local folklore and stories at the Satusoppi, a designated corner for fairytales.
‘Promoting equal access to literature, reading and services are among the key tasks of Finnish libraries’, said Ainali. ‘Any person with an address in Finland can get a library card, and the first library card is always free.’
The library boasts around 95,000 items, including books, newspapers, periodicals, e-books, CDs, DVDs, even sheet music. At Kuhmo City Library, each section has a dedicated acquisitions manager. ‘Through experience, dedication and careful consideration, the team aims to ensure that our library has something for every type of reader. We are happy to receive suggestions from the community, also,’ said Ainali.
Kuhmo City Library is proactive when it comes to expanding the public’s access to the library. Ainali explained, ‘For customers with reading difficulties, we have a selection of plain language literature, books with bigger prints, and syllabic books for children. In addition to this, our library will help customers with reading difficulties access Celia library services [a national Finnish library that offers books in a range of accessible formats].’
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the library piloted a book bag service to ensure that people could read even when a physical visit to browse through the shelves was not an option. Today, there is a Home Library Service for residents who cannot easily access the library, which may be due to old age, mobility challenges or severe health issues that make physical visits hard.
In addition to the Home Library Service, there is the Vaeltaja mobile library where library services are brought to people living in sparsely inhabited areas. The mobile library also serves as a school library for the schools located in the distant and sparsely populated villages.
The library is also active in its promotion of reading. From a book blog with staff contributors to an employment services project that encourages employment service customers to read and access the library service to the library’s five book clubs, there are several ways to engage with the library collections.
The interior of Kuhmo City Library in Finland
The Kuhmo City Library’s book club focuses on literary classics, but there is also the Novella bookclub where participants listen to novellas being read aloud while making handicrafts and knitwear to be donated to charity. For their youngest customers, the Kuhmo City Library also offers Fairytale Hour with care dogs, where children can listen to fairytales and stories while meeting the care dogs from the Finnish Kennel Club’s Kainuu district organisation.
These events are actively shared on the website, newsletter or on posters that are printed and put up around the library. In addition to book promotion and publishing events, the library is also a space for art, photography and other types of exhibitions.
There is also space for supporting and promoting Kuhmo local writers. ‘Local writers can come and talk about their books for free, and the library will help with marketing,’ Ainali said. ‘Whenever a local writer publishes a new book, we try to buy it and include it in our collection.’
Ainali’s time at Kuhmo City Library has taught her the library’s significance and how valuable reading is to its community. ‘Even in a time of AI and great technological advancement, people are drawn to stories,’ said Ainali. ‘That knowledge makes my job even more meaningful, and gives me strength to navigate challenges we face. It takes time and effort to stay relevant and keep up with the changes in our environment, and we need to be open-minded when it comes to taking literature to new places and audiences. Yet as long as we cherish curiosity of the human mind, there is both a place and need for books.’
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