Long Live Libraries!

Thanks in part to globalisation, we can easily find familiar institutions in many different countries. Some of those places are commercial ones, like chain restaurants. And some, like public libraries, are privileged places where we find books, CDs, DVDs and other documentation produced by people from all over the world.

I was born in Portugal and lived there for most of my life. I became a member at the age of eight at a small local library that belongs to a national network of libraries established by Calouste Gulbenkian, an Armenian businessman and philanthropist who lived in Portugal. It was there that I discovered many different writers and legends from around the world. I learnt that life was quite different in other times, about the psychological side of human beings, and about the culture of my own country and faraway countries as well.

From childhood, I have had a passion for books as objects, and it is a great pleasure for me to visit any place where they are gathered. Libraries are their home – this is expressed in the word “library,” whose root is Latin for “book.” Today, books may share libraries with other forms of documentation, but at a library’s heart is the book.

When I went to live abroad for the first time, it was in Luxembourg, and I lived for some years in its capital, Luxembourg City. The public library in Luxembourg is now a big and modern infrastructure with an interesting design; they even have a special room for children’s activities. My two sons were born in Luxembourg, and from quite a young age they became used to the smell of books and to being surrounded by bookcases.

I confess that, for me, a new building still doesn’t have the same charisma as an old one, but a modern library does have many attractive aspects, especially in that the space can be reinvented and adapted to the needs of its society. Today it is common to see parents with small children in libraries; some years ago libraries were more spaces for students, but now they are places for a more varied patronage, especially the public ones.

I came to live in Switzerland in 2010 and was happy to find a country full of libraries, having left behind a network of municipal libraries in Portugal. In some cities in my home country they do wonderful social work, bringing together people of all ages with various events to promote cultural activities. During the holidays I often go to Maia, a city near Oporto, and from my apartment, I can see the municipal library. It’s good to have it so close.

In Switzerland I first visited the Pestalozzi libraries, which take their name from the Swiss pedagogue Johann Pestalozzi, and they are quite good and have good space for children. We visited Zurich during a weekend before making the decision to move here from Luxembourg, and stayed in a hotel very near the Pestalozzi library at Hardau, which has resources in several languages, catering to the local international population. When we moved here, I went to visit it, and it was so good to find books in my mother tongue. My children and I even participated, along with many others, in an activity in Portuguese! They have books in English, German, Albanian, Bosnian, Croatian, Turkish, Tamil, Spanish, Arabic and French. That is amazing to me.

Zurich has 16 Pestalozzi libraries and I have already been to three: Hardau, Sihlcity and Altstadt, which is older and bigger than the other two libraries. In all three we can find books in English, German, French and Italian at the very least. The distinctive feature of these libraries is their good and modern organization.

I am now living in Oberrieden, and they have a nice local library here (shown above), where I can drink a coffee for only 50 Rappen. They also sometimes make available books and other resources that they can no longer store on their shelves, for free. The library is now in a modern building that is near the local secondary school, and they have a good collection for their public. There is also a bookcase full of English books. The librarians are friendly and attentive to their patrons when they order new materials. I was delighted to find, among the books from other lands, a section for Portugal.

I go there once a week and, for my children, a library has become a normal place to go and has the added advantage that the annual fee is quite low. In Portugal municipal libraries don’t charge anything, at least the ones I’ve known, but I don’t think that it is unreasonable to do so.

Children are delighted to find many games available along with the books, and they are very well taken care of. My younger son, who is five and doesn’t have much patience for holding a book for too long, likes the games area and checking the round sticker with the recommended age. He likes the books, too, of course. Sometimes it’s funny to see what he chooses: animals, the sea, cars and stories – all books probably chosen for their covers. The oldest, at seven, is already a reader. He loves books, and when he cannot understand the words he follows the images. He currently concentrates on the boxes of comics, but he had already developed his interest for other kinds of books. Of course, both like DVDs but we don’t always borrow those, as the TV has so many options.

Thalwil is only some minutes away from Oberrieden by bus, by train or bicycle. Thalwil also has a nice library next to a dance school – a library called Rosengarten (shown above). The coffee there is a little more expensive – Sfr.2 – but they have a good library for young children, and more books for adults, too. The resources seem to be renewed often, and it’s easy to find books on many subjects. They have activities for young children and books in English and French. They don’t have books in Portuguese, but I already saw a German translation of a book by Fernando Pessoa, a famous Portuguese writer, and they have CDs by Portuguese musicians.

From that library, which serves a bigger community than Oberrieden, we can bring a bag full of books, CDs, games and DVDs back to the house. I have cards from both libraries, and my children have a card for the library in Thalwil. This mother loves to share her passion for libraries with her children – we can have an enjoyable afternoon at little or no cost.

Text, Illustration and Pictures by Albina Nogueira

Albina Nogueira has been a primary school teacher since 1992. She also worked for four years as coordinator of a library school. Reading, writing and drawing are three of her big passions. Becoming a mother gave her two more passions, as well as the opportunity to observe, informally, children’s creativity in a familiar environment.