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Northwest Singapore library users celebrated the reopening of the Choa Chu Kang Public Library on October 27, 2021. In addition to a wide variety of bibliographic resources, the recently renovated library is unique, being Singapore’s first public library with a focus on sustainability, with an indoor garden as well as a hydroponic showcase. Choa Chu Kang Public Library is the seventh and latest next-generation library, under National Library Board’s LAB25 (Libraries and Archives Blueprint 2025) plan. The total area of the Choa Chu Kang Public Library after renovation and expansion is 3,000sq m, occupying the 4th and 5th floors of Lot One Shoppers’ mall, about 30% larger than the previous one. The library was relaunched with the theme Reconnect with nature, a slogan that the National Library Board promotes in all partner libraries of the LAB 25 program. The role of the Choa Chu Kang public library is to meet the general information and leisure needs of the community. The collection includes approximately 180,000 bibliographic resources, including materials that deal mainly with topics related to nature, the environment, sustainability, sustainable lifestyle. Users can use the facilities available in the Study Area and the Multimedia Area, independent of the library’soperating hours, by simply scanning a barcode written on the library card or the QR code, through the mobile application offered by the National Library Board. Other services and facilities include: multimedia stations, digital learning tools, live streams of nature, book return boxes, self-service printing services, educational materials, reading and story areas, seat reservation system, workstations, lockers for storing various equipment, user education and information literacy programs, school holidays specific programs, workshops and working groups on various topics, exhibition spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public libraries have a special significance for the Finnish people and the favourable public opinion of libraries is also widely shared by the Finnish decision makers. The paper looks at Helsinki's new city library, the Helsinki Central Library Oodi, which was launched by the Finnish Ministry of Culture in 1998 and has opened its doors in December 2018. Located in the heart of the city opposite Parliament House, the Library has become one of the flagship projects celebrating the centenary of Finland's independence. This paper focuses on the practices of citizen participation which have been key in the planning of the library since its very beginnings, and considers how including the citizens and library users in planning the library's new services and functions has promoted grass roots democracy, openness, and a feeling of ownership of the new library. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public libraries have a special significance for the Finnish people and the favourable public opinion of libraries is also widely shared by the Finnish decision makers. The paper looks at Helsinki's new city library, the Helsinki Central Library Oodi, which was launched by the Finnish Ministry of Culture in 1998 and has opened its doors in December 2018. Located in the heart of the city opposite Parliament House, the Library has become one of the flagship projects celebrating the centenary of Finland's independence. This paper focuses on the practices of citizen participation which have been key in the planning of the library since its very beginnings, and considers how including the citizens and library users in planning the library's new services and functions has promoted grass roots democracy, openness, and a feeling of ownership of the new library. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unconventional libraries have emerged as a result of initiatives by individuals, NGOs or other types of organizations in order to facilitate access to reading in a different context from the traditional, institutional one. In most cases, these are public access libraries consisting of collections of print books for borrowing available in unconventional spaces (cafes, malls, hotels, outdoors, etc.) or as itinerant collections. Their main function is not to preserve their collections, but to make them more accessible and more attractive to users. Unconventional libraries can be an alternative to the collections and services of conventional libraries but also a unique solution, when serving certain disadvantaged users in terms of access to conventional libraries. The authors propose a division of unconventional libraries into three categories - libraries organized in unconventional spaces, mobile libraries and micro libraries - and present examples of unconventional libraries in Romania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Medgidia City Library was established in 1949 with a collection of publications consisting of donations from other libraries, mostly brochures. Currently, the institution is the most important public library in the city, with a rich cultural tradition, with over 75,000 encyclopedic book volumes and collections of periodicals, organized according to library standards. The library is also a center for information, professional and intellectual training of community members. The author makes a brief historical and social journey of the library in its 50 years of existence, presenting the most important activities and events carried out or organized by it from its establishment until 2019. Throughout 2019, the library has hosted numerous symposia, book launches and courses, offering readers in Medgidia and implicitly library users, the opportunity to meet prestigious writers. Over the years, the threshold of the library has been crossed by great writers: Mihail Sadoveanu, Tudor Arghezi, Corneliu Leu, Francisc Munteanu, Cristian Teodorescu, as well as by personalities from Medgidia, which confirms that in Constanța County, it was and will remain one of the best equipped and appreciated local libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In early June, on the occasion of International Children's Day, the Public County Library "Dinicu Golescu" Argeş organized the second edition of the event "Letters for children". During the three days event, there were awarded diplomas and gifts to loyal readers of the library, there were organized interactive activities promoting children's talent, creativity and dynamism, there were encouraged arts and entertainment programs, ending up with the Argeş edible book festival, at its first edition. The last day of the event, ANBPR Argeş Branch initiated a program to promote reading, entitled "city is reading" arranging two book stands in front of the library. These books were donated over time to the library, and the passersby could get one in exchange for each personal given book from their own library. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]