A tale of two libraries

My wife Neni Sta. Romana Cruz has just returned from a month-long Scandinavian trip and writes about what she has found most impressive.

My mind brims with lovely and priceless images of Northern Europe in the fall, but what strikes me as most important are two memorable places which unfortunately are not mentioned by the ever reliable Hop-On, Hop-Off buses which we start any city with for a mandatory bird’s eye view.

The breathtakingly beautiful Helsinki Central Library, voted one of the world’s most beautiful, was a mandatory stop. It is named Oodi, Finnish for the lyric poetic form, “ode.” This was a name it adopted following a citizen’s survey. A stunning art installation by Otto Karvonen on black stairways contains 381 painted names – the result of another public poll for citizens to name to whom the library should be dedicated. Inclusivity was apparent in the submitted entries, written in Finnish but accessible in English on the website.

A few panels listed the following individuals: the illiterate, the forgotten, emigrants, the young, noise-makers, loudmouths, scholars, rebels, prisoners, obsessives, right-wingers, do-gooders, the overworked, lazybones, the henpecked, genderqueers, everyone and yes, readers!

As impressive as the architecture are the three welcoming floors of service. The Saturday afternoon we visited, it was happily buzzing and seemed to have all those individuals mentioned above. It was not a quiet library, yet people were busy reading, writing, studying for school, conversing or just relaxing, looking out onto the city view. They all seemed happily settled in a place they had chosen to be in. It was a happy place.

The upper floor has been called “book heaven,” but offers more than books, again having consulted users on how they access culture. There is an inviting café but with the forbidding sign by the water counter, “Please do not refill your water bottles here. This is only for café customers.”  Water, as the Finnish brag, is the best water in the world, so is quite a sought-after commodity. Yes, we can certainly drink to that!

On the ground floor as one leaves, one is drawn to a sign that says in Finnish and in Swedish, the country’s two national languages, and in English, “Bestsellers and paperbacks. Check me out.”

Much is made of the fact that it is built in the vicinity of the Finnish Parliament Building, to emphasize the equal power they wield and to remind all of the Finnish Library Act’s mandate for libraries to promote “lifelong learning, active citizenship, democracy and freedom of expression.” The public library is an essential component of its much-lauded educational system. Oodi won the Public Library of the Year award for 2019 from the International Federation of Library Associations.

Just as welcoming was the Oslo Public Library, even close to its closing hour at 10 p.m. No one felt any hints that it was time to go. What a true paradise for learning and even daydreaming. How could the Hop On-Hop Off bus tour not even mention it, as it is right across the Opera House and the Munch Museum – and is no less grand, all five floors of it, with designated places for eating and private study. It had striking wooden sculptures, bright and cheery lighting installation on the ground floor and an upstairs reading room whose ceiling hanging décor were opened books.

On one floor, I decided to search for what Philippine materials it had – and was pleasantly surprised that its limited collection included my “Why the Piña Has A Hundred Eyes…” Of course, I had to go to the shelf in the children’s section to look for it. It turned out to be a donation from the Philippine embassy in Oslo in 2020. When I tried to copy the call number by hand, a machine by the terminal even printed out the info for me automatically. I didn’t even request for it! Talk of user friendly. And for those who asked, I forgot to sign the book nor introduce myself at the desk.

I was happy to see books by National Artists Bien Lumbera and Ricky Lee, Isagani Cruz, Liana Romulo in the collection – but with such dated titles!

It was with special interest that I looked for Philippine titles as the National Book Development Board and a core team gears up for the Philippines as Guest of Honour at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2025 with project visionary Sen. Loren Legarda as chief advocate and patroness.  She made the Philippine participation at the Venice Biennale a regular one after decades-long absence, boosting Philippine architecture and the arts, so why not the Philippine publishing industry too?

As we all know, it is not talent we are short of.  Unlimited funds, it is certain, for a developing country as ours. But the prospect of being highlighted internationally as only the second Southeast Asian country after Indonesia in 2015, is a boost we could use to advantage. Like being visible in foreign public libraries.

Deichman bibliotek is the library’s official Norwegian name. It was founded in 1785 following an endowment by Carl Deichman and is Norway’s oldest and largest public library. It was awarded the International Federation of Library Associations/Systematic Library of the Year in 2021, the Norwegian Library of the Year in 2020, the Trend Brand of the Year in 2020.

How uplifting and inspiring to visit the two libraries – even if I was filled with so much jealousy.

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