On Thursday, a unique library – from one passenger to another – was opened in Tallinn Airport, giving travellers the opportunity to enjoy the company of a book while waiting for a flight or to borrow the book for their whole trip.
The library in the airport’s passenger terminal is special due to the fact that the airport has not bought a single one of the books – the whole collection is comprised of books donated by good citizens and travellers. Anyone waiting for a flight can choose a book from the library to read in the airport or on their trip, take it along on their flight and return it when they come back. If they become very fond of a certain book, they can also keep it and bring the library another book from home as a replacement when going on their next trip. There are no library cards, return deadlines or librarians – everything functions based on trust and good will towards others.
When the airport started the library project in autumn, it only hoped to fill a shelf or two with books with the help of its employees and their friends and acquaintances but the airport’s call for donations took on a life of its own in social media. “In a few days, the call for book donations was shared approximately 700 times on Facebook and a room in the passenger terminal was filled from top to bottom with books,” reminisced Lauri Linnamäe, the airport’s director of communications. Many donators, including acclaimed writers, diplomats, the presidential couple as well as travellers and just simple donators have written heartfelt inscriptions for the travellers reading the books. This is how an initially seemingly small campaign became a true public event that engaged hundreds of reading enthusiasts who wanted others to also get the pleasure of reading the books they had already read. Everything has taken place voluntarily and no-one – not the donators, the volunteers who set up the library on Sunday, or Tallinn Airport – has made any money from this action and even the employees of the airport itself handled this project in addition to their normal tasks out of good will.
The airport’s partner in the library project is AS Leibur.
Enjoy your reading and travels!
Tallinn Airport
