From board games to brain-shaped buildings, Laney Lenox explores some of her favourite libraries for reading, working…and playing board games
Since living in Berlin, I have been overjoyed to discover that many local libraries offer not only diverse books and other reading material (comics, magazines) but a wide array of materials for their patrons to take home, including board games, garden tools, DVDs, and video games. That public libraries offer all of this for free, or for a nominal membership fee, will never stop being remarkable to me.
As an autistic person, I also frequently use libraries as a place to feel grounded and safe in unfamiliar places or during times of change. When I first moved to Berlin, the Staatsbibliothek on Potsdamer Straße offered me that sense of familiarity, reliability, and comfort. It became a quiet place for me to go and work, or just to sit and process the different culture that I was experiencing in Berlin.
Over the years, I’ve also used libraries as a way to explore and become familiar with different parts of Berlin. Below are some of the ones I have grown most fond of. The previously mentioned state libraries are not included as you can find another article on those here…
Located in the courtyard directly beside the Ocelot bookstore (there is a direct entrance at the back of the bookshop), the Philipp-Shaeffer Library is deceptively large and boasts a particularly impressive children’s library that takes up the entire lower floor. This children’s library includes cosy spaces for reading, board games with child-height tables for…