A book. A board game. A window cleaning device. Or would you prefer tomato seeds? There is a lot to discover and borrow in the Knowledge Tower, one of the six locations of the Linz City Library.
In addition to the classic range of media that visitors expect to find in a library, there are also very special offers with the digitizable bar, the Dingelei(h) and the new seed exchange. Old photos, videos or cassettes can be digitized in the Digitizable Bar, and objects such as a drill or sewing machine can be borrowed from the Dingelei(h).
For Education and Environment Councilor Eva Schobesberger (Greens), this resource-saving use of items that you don’t need every day is a reasonable approach, which also offers the opportunity “to try out items that you wouldn’t use otherwise”. Incidentally, the library team is always grateful and open to suggestions on how the range of things could be expanded. As if that wasn’t enough, swapping with the new seed stock exchange has recently been announced on the first floor of the Knowledge Tower. The principle behind it: Seeds that are not needed (for vegetables as well as for flowers) can be handed in there by visitors, and others can be taken with them in return.
The seeds are kept in sacks recycled from old books. Appropriate current specialist literature is made available, says department head Heike Merschitzka.
In addition, the Linz City Library offers cargo bike rental at four library locations (next to the Knowledge Tower, for example in Auwiesen). For Merschitzka, these offers are important incentives to motivate library users to visit the various locations. In her experience, a certain corona-related reluctance to do this can still be felt.
More online rentals
The corona crisis has also further strengthened the trend towards digital offers. With more than 143,300 downloads and streamings, almost 19 percent of library loans are already digital. Merschitzka says there are plans to expand the online offer even further in the future – with international magazines and newspapers.
The combination of analog and digital is also practiced in everyday library life, as becomes clear, for example, in the promotion of reading for children. An example: picture book cinemas, a kind of combination of reading aloud and large projected images.
Both Schobesberger and Merschitzka attach great importance to the idea of sustainability in all offerings, they want to support library users in their climate projects.
Source: Nachrichten
