The digitization of global literature has brought vast libraries to our fingertips. But the quiet power of a physical book offers a rare escape from constant digital noise.
Physical books allow the reader to get lost in thoughtImage: picture-alliance/moodboard
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Germany's federal commissioner for culture and media, Wolfram Weimer, was heavily criticized recently when he rejected the expansion of the German National Library in favor of digital archiving. Although the former journalist has since indicated that the expansion might proceed, his initial decision has sparked debate about the role of books in a digital world.
Today, we are bombarded with text and information. Podcasts, social media posts, comments, emails, the latest online news — everything is immediately available, any time and anywhere. Yet something important is lost amid the digital clutter: the act of deeply engaging with a thought.
Unlike the distractions of digital media, a physical book demands attention. It has weight, is larger than a smartphone, does not have to be powered and its pages cannot be dismissively swiped away.
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'A pleasure for the senses'
Author and cultural scholar Frank Berzbach describes the special relationship between people and books, which he sees as a mindful alternative to digital media.
"They are a delight to hold, a treat for the senses […] we respond to them with an aesthetic sensation," he writes of books in his essay, "The Art of Reading."
What exactly is this sensation and what fascinates us about books? It's not just the story to be found within their pages, but the whole package.
It's comparable to a vinyl record: carefully removing it from its sleeve, placing it on the turntable, gently lowering the needle and hearing the soft crackle before the first notes sound.
Holding a real book in your hands is also an exclusive pleasure because it offers a moment to pause, to enjoy that rare commodity: time.
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"In an age of calculated TV plotlines and endless gaming, reading a 19th-century classic novel is revolutionary,” writes Berzbach in his essay.
The idea of savoring a novel like Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights" can be incongruous on a digital device. The beauty of the language, the vocabulary and sentence structure requires a conscious, thoughtful approach to reading.
The same applies to nonfiction books that are carefully and thoroughly researched. When consumed as a hardcover book there is no algorithm to intervene, no feed to distract, no push notification to interrupt.
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Libraries as spiritual places
The backlash against Weimer's initial preference for a digital as opposed to a physical library indicates a yearning to maintain these meditative public spaces.
When you enter one of these temples of books, a special silence surrounds you. You hear only soft murmurs, whispers, the rustling of pages. You are immersed in a world where time seems to stand still.
And together with others leafing through old and new books or magazines, you form a small, close-knit community with those who believe they can find more answers here than on the internet. In this sense, libraries can be seen as spiritual spaces.
On Libraries Day, we showcase some of the world's most impressive spaces for reading and losing ourselves in literature of all sorts.
Image: Weber/Eibner-Pressefoto/picture alliance
Designing for community
The Central Library Oodi in Helsinki is a designer lover's dream. The architecture of the three-story building highlights Finland's natural world, with a wood-clad exterior and a wavy shape that resembles snow drifts. With a movie theater and sauna inside, the library built to mark the country's centenary is about more than just books.
Image: Tuomas Uusheimo
Rising from the ashes
The Duchess Anna Amalia Library in Weimar got its present name in 1991. It had previously been called simply the "Herzogliche Bibliothek" ("The Ducal Library") for 300 years. The building with its famous rococo hall (above) was partially destroyed in a fire, but it reopened on October 24, 2007.
Image: Jan Woitas/ZB/picture alliance
The 'book cube'
The new municipal library in the southwest German city of Stuttgart, is designed in the shape of a cube and is therefore also referred to as a "book cube." The building was designed by Korean architect Eun Young Yi and opened in 2011. There is space for half a million books and other media.
Image: Weber/Eibner-Pressefoto/picture alliance
A football field or a library?
Don't worry if you don't have a student card, the library of the University of Technology in Delft, the Netherlands is worth visiting even without it. The sloping, grass-grown top of the building is particularly striking, and the 42-meter-high cone that pierces the building in the middle hides four floors full of books.
Image: Nicholas Kane/Arcaid/picture alliance
Tulipwood and ebony
British newspaper "The Daily Telegraph" included the Biblioteca Joanina in Coimbra, Portugal in the 2013 list of the most spectacular libraries in the world. It bears the name of the Portuguese king John V, who commissioned its construction. All bookshelves are made of tulipwood and ebony, and the place is now part of the Faculty of Law.
Image: picture-alliance/akg-images/H. Champollion
The ancient world meets modernity
The Library of Alexandria was the most famous library in the world before it was destroyed in flames about 2,000 years ago. It is said to have contained the whole knowledge of the then world on about 490,000 papyrus rolls. The new library of Alexandria, which continues the tradition, opened in 2002. Its final cost? More than 220 million dollars (€187 m.).
Image: picture-alliance/Arco Images GmbH
Among mummies
Some of the specimens in possession of the Abbey library of Saint Gall in St. Gallen, Switzerland are over 1,300 years old, and visitors can see the monastery plan, the oldest building plan in Europe, or an Egyptian mummy. The Büchersaal ("The Book Hall," above) has been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1983.
Image: picture-alliance/Stuart Dee/robertharding
Rescued by a president
Pay a visit to the Library of Congress whenever you are in Washington, D. C. The library was founded in 1800 but was burnt down by the British just 14 years later. Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, sold about 6,500 books from his private collection to fund the $24,000 restoration. The main reading room pictured above was built in the Neo-Renaissance style.
Image: picture-alliance/JOKER/H. Khandani
An oak-ey idea
The double-storey "Long Room" in the old Trinity College Library in Dublin is 64 meters long and 12 meters wide. But the space wasn't always as impressive as it is today. Its flat, plaster ceiling was removed in 1858 and substituted by a new roof made of oak.
Image: Imago/imagebroker
A movie star
The New York Public Library has starred in several films, including the musical "42nd Street" from 1933, "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1961), "Ghostbusters" (1984) and "Spider-Man" (2002). It is also where Carrie and Mr. Big get married in the 2008 "Sex and the City" film. Opened in 1911, the impressive main reading room is currently being expanded.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Schmitt-Tegge
Everything is big in China
With an archive of more than 30 million books and other media, the National Library of China is one of the seven largest libraries in the world. It was built as the "Capital Library" in 1809 and later renamed the "Beijing Library" in 1928 after the People's Republic of China was established. Its current name was approved by the state in 1998.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/W. Zhao
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You can take this experience home to your own bookshelf, the place that has helped develop our own unique ideas. From well-worn paperbacks to rare antiquarian finds, these are the books that we've read multiple times or still haven't quite finished; all of which have shaped us along the way.
Perhaps that is the biggest difference from the digital world: A physical book does not disappear into a digital folder but remains on the shelf.
And at some point, you reach for it again — out of curiosity, longing or simply because it's there.
Berzbach has a simple phrase for this identity that's formed through consuming literature: "Those who live with books always have a home."
This article was originally written in German.
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