Group study rooms in Terkko unavailable from May 15th, 2017

The Meilahti Campus Library Terkko is preparing for alteration work that will start in May 2017.

The three group study rooms and the auditorium in Terkko will still be available during week 19 (May 8th – 12th), but starting on Monday, May 15th, group study rooms and the auditorium can no longer be reserved.

The Meilahti Campus Library Terkko will be closed for renovations from Monday, May 22nd 2017, and the new premises will open in autumn 2017.

Further information about the renovations will become available in March-April.

 

Kaisa Library: The Haps

Helsinki University City Centre Campus Library in Finland by AOA architects.
Helsinki University City Centre Campus Library in Finland by AOA architects.

Alright, so you’ve seen the white walls and the big windows and the light that is everywhere. The carefully color-coded design chairs and the smiling guys at customer service.

What then?

Step 1

First impressions about Kaisa vary widely: The anti-humanist, Foucault-referencing poststructuralist nerds often feel that the Kaisa library is too clinical, like a science factory with no goal but to produce science (power is, like, a network which serves, like, faceless institutions).

The utilitarian, inertia-friendly, cat-like nerds think Kaisa is the best place to study because utility is, finally, maximized: the fact that you can eat, sleep and study within one building makes it the Greatest Building In The World.

Both are right. If the white space-hospitaley walls give you the creeps, check out Aleksandria, Café Gaudeamus, and the lower floors: 2, K2, and K3. All are great places to study if the upper floors of the Kaisa make you sure that HAL is watching you. If you like being alone, head down to K4 where even Friday won’t find you.

Remember The Tunnel

Don’t forget that you can take elevators straight from the metro station and grocery store up to Kaisa and walk through the lobby to Aleksandria, the Language Center and Porthania. This is extremely useful when it’s Winter and you want to bite your fingers off just so they wouldn’t be so cold. Utilitarianism rules.

Try the space chairs on the third floor and the coffee automat on the 7th (free hot water! Just bring your own teabags). Permanently moving into the library is made very easy with the student kitchen on the third floor, complete with a microwave and a kettle.

How To Become Lorelai Gilmore: Coffee Secrets

In addition to Gaudeamus (2,25 euros), the closest places to get coffee are Café Portaali (1,25 euros, with lunch 90 cents), the grocery shop on level K1 (small coffee one euro) and the corner kiosk on Kaisaniemenkatu close to the tram stops (one euro). The author of this piece sincerely recommends the latter: the kiosk is kept by the sweetest grandmas who’ll smile your face off.

Or Rory Gilmore: Book Secrets

Notice also that most books – except for course material – have a loaning period of 28 days and they can be renewed 50 times. This means that you can borrow one book for four years and two months. That’s probably more time than you can possibly imagine right now. In addition to cool science books you can find prose, poetry and drama in different languages on K3.

Lastly: don’t forget that This Is Water. Don’t follow the instructions, just read the books. They’re the best that Kaisa has to offer.