Day 2 we cycled 53 miles from Amsterdam to The Hague. It was a beautiful ride along the coast through the dunes.
Photo by Eeva Rita-Kasari
The first library visit of the day was in Haarlem at the railway station. The library is open during the busiest times at the station and is single staffed. The focus is on current best sellers and quick turnaround with self-checkout. You can grab a book and still catch your train. The library also has a little coffee machine. This library is just the first of ten station locations to be opened in the Netherlands in the coming years.
Next stop was a public library in Noordwijk. This library serves the community and the 2 schools neighboring schools. The library is only open to the public 26 hours per week, but it stays open for the schools' use. Students are actually trained as library assistants to help their classmates.
This library is where we learned about the common logo for all the Netherlands libraries. This saves a ton of money on promotional items and creates excellent brand recognition for all libraries. At many of the public libraries in Holland we also heard them mention the "public living room." The spaces have coffee shops and some have bars and they all offer lots of comfortable seating -- all designed to allow users to stay longer and really enjoy their time at the public library
Day 2 Video