Written by Library Planet editor Christian Lauersen, director of Libraries and Citizen Services in Roskilde Municipality, Denmark.

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Skaelskoer is a small town with a population of around 6.500 located by the seaside in the South-West of the Island of Zealand in Denmark. Driving in from the seaside the first thing you meet entering the city is a big anchor and the local public library. Just beside the library there is a crossing that takes you either to the city center or the habor.

Entering the city of Skaelskoer: An anchor and a library

The library seems farily new and might meet you as a bit robust and closed from the outside with it’s dark facade and squared architechture. Inside on the other hand you meet an open and friendly library.

Skaelskoer Public Library

The library is basically a long one-room library but they have managed to create different zones using shelves of different sizes to create rooms in the room for e.g. fiction, non-fiction, childrens library, music, newspapers, exhibitions and a lot of small cozy reading spots between the stacks.

Creating rooms in the room with shelves – very well carried out

The signage of the library is pretty cool with a lot of footprints on the floor to guide visitors to the different parts of the library (nice detail with little feets towards the childrens library). The lightning is really friendly and warm with a lot of spot light towards the shelves. Every stack has a shelves with books facing the cover out which always works really great.

On the upper floor of the library there is a very nice huge room for concerts, talks, community meetings etc.

What else to see and do in Skaelskoer? The habor side and the old city center is really nice for walks and a stop for coffee or a beer by one of the many cafes and restaurants in the areas (especially in the summer time). Besides this Skaelskoer is a epicenter for ceramics and is the home of Guldagergaard – Northn Europes largest studio for ceramics. The city also hosts an annual ceramics festival. The community focus on ceramics is clearly seen around the library that has a lot of small ceramics embedded into the cobbles