Finland's 'ode' to a new era in libraries

HELSINKI - What do you give the world's most literate country for its 100th birthday? For Finland's politicians and public, the answer was simple: A vast, state-of-the-art library, a new "living room for the nation".

Twenty years in the planning, Helsinki's central library officially will open on Wednesday at the end of a year of festivities marking the centenary of Finland's independence after breaking with Russia in 1917 following six centuries under Swedish rule.

It is a huge, flowing structure of wood and glass sitting on a prime spot in the city center, directly opposite the Finnish parliament.