I went to my first library of the trip, and I have to say that I’m deeply impressed. Judging from the Openbare Bibliotheek, it’s evident that the Netherlands values libraries. Such care was given to the design of the building and its contents, from the bookshelf arrangement to the labels on the books. I could see myself spending a lot of time there.
I was especially impressed by the setup of the children’s section. The circular bookshelves create little private areas with sofas and cushions so parents can comfortably read to their children, or children can read to themselves with little danger of being interrupted. I mentioned the book labels earlier; the labels on the 
children’s books are adorable. There’s a ghost sticker for scary stories, a wizard’s hat for stories about magic, and so on. And fiction books are intershelved with nonfiction books, something that’s rarely done in the United States. Everything seems to be arranged to help kids easily find the kind of books they’re looking for, and maybe even find some they’re not looking for.
After seeing just one library here, I’m not going to proclaim Dutch libraries superior to U.S. libraries. After all, we do have some really great libraries in the U.S., too. But if I keep seeing this kind of quality at other libraries I visit, I’ll definitely be a convert.
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