What a great IFLA/SYSTEMATIC Public Library of the Year Award it was this year in Rotterdam!

What struck me most about the award ceremony was the diversity between the short listed libraries. The are very different and are all beautiful buildings that serves their communities. I personally think that all the shortlisted libraries are winners. They are all very different and beautiful libraries, and all deserve a visit:

• Biblioteca Gabriel García Márquez (Spain), winner!
• Parramatta Library (Australia)
• Public Library Janez Vajkard Valvasor Krško (Slovenia)
• Shanghai Library East (China)

You can find more information about the winning library here: Winner of this year Public Library of the Year (systematic.com)

As a member of the jury and selection committee for the Public Library of the Year Award, what keeps surprising me is the number and quality of global applications: all very different but great examples of what public libraries can be.  You can read more about all 16 of this year’s applicants below (in alphabetical order).

Biblioteca Gabriel García Márquez (Spain)

Biblioteca Pilarin Bayés (Spain)

City of Parramatta Libraries (Australia)

Hamilton Public Library Valley Park Branch (Canada)

Janez Vajkard Valvasor Public Library, Krško (Slovenia)

Jean d’Ormesson Library (France)

JinGang Library (China)

L’Atelier “Léonard de Vinci”, médiathèque-maison de quartier (France)

Dr. José Manuel Álvarez Manilla de la Peña Library, Mexico

Lippulaiva Library (Finland)

Mediateka MeMo (Poland)

Qixi Library (China)

Open Lab, Multimedia Center of National Central Library (Taiwan)

Shanghai Library East (China)

Taoyuan Public Library (Taiwan)

The Community Library Project (India)

Hopefully we will have some great applications from all over the world again next year and another well-deserved winner.

Sander van Kempen
Member of SC Public Libraries and member of the jury of the Public Library of the Year Award.