Do you have a local library near where you live - and do you still go there to borrow books?
Yesterday was another good day for a walk, and I decided to pay a visit to our city library; situated in the same building as the art museum and the local theatre.
My main errand was to check if my library card was still even valid...
The thing is, I haven't been using the library's services for a while (explanation below), but recently I felt inspired to check out their current online services. I
found there was a new app for online loans of e-books and audio books. I
was able to download the app, but wasn't able to log in. Reflecting about how long it was since I last made use of my card, I realized that perhaps I needed to get that updated as well...
We used to have a small branch library like only five minutes walk from where I live. Very practical. Besides what I could find on their shelves, I could also order things from the main library and pick them up at "my" library. And likewise, I could return books at the branch library, even if I'd borrowed them from the main library. However, the branch library was closed down a couple of years ago, as the building was going to be renovated. (As far as I can see, they still haven't even started that job, though...)
And then came the pandemic... with restrictions in the main library's opening hours and services as well. So I haven't been borrowing anything from the library in at least 2-3 years. In some ways, I haven't really missed it all that much (except as "a place to go to"). For one thing, in later years I've acquired quite a collection of English Kindle and Audible books from Amazon and Audible. And I've also had access to a national Swedish online "talking book" library service (for people with visual or other impairments). (However, their recordings are not the same as the audio books sold commercially, and the quality varies a bit.)
Since last autumn I'm an "old age" pensioner, though, and I've been thinking maybe it's time to cut down on my collector's mania a bit and start making more use of the library again.
So off I trotted to the library yesterday, to at least get my library card sorted!
Walking to the city library means my usual walk downtown; and then a bit further up a hill. I chose a side street on this occasion, and took the opportunity to snap some photos of town views I pass less often. There's a mix of old and new blocks of flats in this part of town:
The white building is our "cultural centre", including library, art museum and theatre.
The tower sticking up belongs to our biggest church (Church of Sweden)
Another church across the road from there (a "free" church, i.e. not Church of Sweden)
Across another street, an old building which I think used to be the town hospital back in the late 19th / early 20th century.
The city library is huge and I have to admit I feel rather lost among the shelves there these days, not visiting all that often... I just snapped a couple of random photos. This I think is part of the children's section.
I got my errand sorted out, though - no problem. Got a new library card and pin code; and when I got back home, was able to log into the new app, and borrow my first library e-book. I found it seems to work quite well for me to read in this app on the tablet, being able to adjust text size and background brightness etc. So now I can continue to catch up with some books in Swedish in between all the English ones still waiting on Kindle (I've downloaded soo many old English classics and other free or cheap bargains over the past decade...)
Before going back home, I also revisited the art museum, plus took another little detour on my way back as well... But I'll save those photos for another post.
I like the older red brick and other buildings you show. The Free Church does not have a steeple, does it? The church I attend is like a large auditorium inside, a stage for rock worship music, and folding chairs, no pews. The worship spirit is there. I have a branch library near my house that is closed for remodeling, as you mentioned near you.
ReplyDeleteTerra, that's right. While the churches belonging to the Church of Sweden (which goes back many centuries and used to be State church until 2000) traditionally have either a steeple or a separate bell-tower, very few (if any) of the 'free' churches do. The architecture may still vary a lot with when a church was built, though, and for how large a congregation. The one in this photo I think is the largest free church in this town and it does have a large wide auditorium with high ceiling and a stage in front. A good space for concerts. But they do have pews (not separate chairs) and I think also a church organ. I'm not sure what their normal Sunday services are like these days. My general impression is that the denomination they belong to, Equmenia, is kind of "semi-formal" (compared to on the one hand the Church of Sweden, and on the other hand some of the other 'free' churches). But it's been years since I last visited there (and then usually for some "special occasion"). Attached to this church there is also a café, various rooms for smaller gatherings and they even have their own sports hall.
DeleteA library e-book; I have not heard of that! We are only a few blocks from our city library. During Covid they have been having only drive-up book exchanges and no one comes inside.
ReplyDeleteGinny, I think our library has offered (a limited selection of) e-books for quite a while, but in the early days the technology was different, and I only had a computer. Then I got my Kindle, but our libraries and publishers don't use that system. So it's been years since I even thought of checking out how things have developed since then!
Deletei like all the buildings your found on the way to your library trip. and i need to go visit ours because i have not seen it since they remodeled while shut down for the pandemic. now i have waited to long, because the virus is back. yours on the insdie looks a lot like ours
ReplyDeleteSandra, our virus situation here has been a lot better better over summer, but there is some worry again now as there seems to be a certain increase of cases again, with people having been traveling and mixing more during summer, and the schools about to open up again soon. The majority of our population has been vaccinated by now though, and they're now starting to also offer vaccinations for teens from 16 up.
DeleteOur city library has been open throughout the pandemic, and online offers have been introduced some years ago. We still have a few branch libraries plus a library bus, but some smaller branches have shut down over the past decade.
ReplyDeleteAs you may or may not remember, I was trained there (at the „main“ library in our Kulturzentrum in the middle of town) as a librarian in the mid-1980s. The place still holds a special place in my heart, although it is hardly recognisable these days from what it was like when I worked there.
Meike, I think our city library has been kept partly open during the pandemic but only for borrowing and returning books, not to spend more time there like sit and read and work and use their public computers etc. Instead I think they have probably had more delivery services. But I haven't really kept up with the details.
DeleteI still love libraries in general even though in later years I haven't really borrowed a lot of physical books...
I use to use the library ALOT, both my daughter and I are bookworms but the other half bought me a tablet for my birthday so I've been downloading books that I can't find anywhere else.
ReplyDeleteAmy, the possibility to download books certainly makes things easier. Remembering my university days back in the early 1980s, before the internet - how much trouble, here in Sweden, to find for example English classics beyond the current mandatory course literature (i.e. in stock in the university's own bookshop)
DeleteI always enjoy seeing photos of your town, Monica. Back in the days of FMTSO I always thought your town was the most interesting and the best. Love your sculptures!
ReplyDeleteThanks Pauline. 'Friday My Town Shoot Out' was probably quite an important source of inspiration for me to learn to look a bit differently at things in my own town - with camera in hand. And blogging in general still is, whether I link to some special challenge/theme or not!
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