An innovative library space for kids

hoto: Dina Johnsen, TheOsloBook.no

This is a unique and innovative space, created for young people ages 10 to 15. No adults allowed!

In a profile published by the team at TheOsloBook, a cultural and lifestyle online guide to the city of Oslo, they report: 'The design team went directly to the source to begin their mission to rethink and redesign the library space. They held focus groups with young people to find out their wants and needs. Young people said they wanted a place to hang out, relax, and escape parents and siblings. In addition, they needed a safe place to socialise and said it should be a space where they can create and do things together. The library has achieved these goals by creating a cool and comfortable ‘third’ space between school and home where youth can learn, explore, and be themselves.'

Books and reading are still at the heart of the library, of course, but there are also educational activities such as drama, music, cooking, computer programming, 3-D printing and Lego building. Members can read while lounging in a wheelbarrow, work on homework inside a converted tuk-tuk, or discuss group projects in an old ski gondola hanging from the ceiling. The entire library embodies and encourages creativity and imagination. 

Books are grouped by themes or features such as ‘animals’ or ‘short and good’ so a science fiction book may be next to a book about robots. How do we know where things are? Well, every night a drone is set to fly over the bookshelves and read the RFID tags... Innovative? You bet. 

Photo: Dina Johnsen, TheOsloBook.no