Language Talking Groups at the Libraries
People may not read books anymore, but they still make good use of the libraries
In Copenhagen, there are libraries. Like in so many other cities.
Long have the libraries tried to adjust to new trends in the society – by offering e-books and audiobooks for download from their websites, for instance, or by arranging corners of their usually quite large facilities for other purposes, such as a café or a citizens’ service area that can help with ordering passports or other things, normally not connected with a library.
And that all, of course, as a result of people not using paper books in the same way, to the same extent, as they used to.
When I was a child, I liked to go to local the library and spend some time there finding books and cartoons to borough and read at home, and perhaps to listen to music on the library’s music systems, perhaps while reading at the same time.
Later, I was employed by a library, working in the children’s department with arranging movies and other things for the children, but, of course also lending out books. Many children came there and did more or less what I had done as a child: spent some good time between the books, perhaps listening to the music, and in general, just enjoying to be in a place where the overall mood and atmosphere were just right.
Maybe home would be more noisy, maybe there would be less room for concentrating on a book, or just on being yourself – and the library offered a great alternative place to be.
Of course, not all people did that. Some never set foot at the library, finding it too calm and boring. They wanted to be with other people, feeling life around them.
I guess we are all different, but also, simply, in different life situations. Sometimes, the one who enjoys the calm and relaxed place, also wants to be with other people, having fun together.
The current development trends in the society by large have led to most people spending time alone – or semi-alone: with others, but through the smartphone or a computer screen.
And people have moved around. They always did, but now, perhaps, there are more people in most larger cities who have a different background than most other people who live there, and they may feel, at times, that it is great to meet with others, but in a different, more calm way than going to a traditional café or disco, or something like that.
We are alone, nowadays. People in general do not have many contacts with whom they actually meet in real life during the week, or month, or at all.
And if you have an interest in some cultural aspects, such as language, you are mostly referred to finding the needed connection with others on the Internet.
But hey! We have those libraries, mostly not used as the were before, mostly not so much about offering books for being read in a quiet room – they have become some kind of a calm version of a culture house instead. books are there, but you can also meet with people and talk. Nobody will complain about that.
So why not – somebody seems to have thought – offer those people who seek cultural connection, want to speak other languages, and need such a place that is already kind of a culture house, to come and talk to each other in different languages?
Why not arrange for “talking clubs” – informal, just some time set aside in one or another corner of the library, or perhaps in a meeting room there, and anybody who wants can just drop in and take part in the conversation in the language of that particular club?
And so it happened! Many libraries in Copenhagen now run this concept – allowing for a number of Language Groups to have reserved a regular timeframe for meeting up with whoever appear that day – and the library even offers coffee and snacks for the participants.
I think this is a great idea! Let people use the facilities for what is important to them, and help making everybody feel comfortable in the society – and, not the least, give room for people to talk to others in a language they like. For learning the language, for instance, or simply for connecting with others who know the same language.
A moment in life, now and then, where all ends just seem to meet, and everybody is happy.
The Libraries of Copenhagen have a common page that describes these groups and which languages they currently cover. Esperanto is not there just now, but it could be there in the future, of course, if somebody wanted to arrange it.