The library opens on Sunday – but not always the advice desk
Open Library extends access to books and workspaces. The example of Chur shows what is possible without staff – and where the limits lie.
A quiet table, a book, a place outside one's own flat: for that, a library has to be more than a lending counter. On a Sunday in particular, it could reach people who work, study or care for relatives during the usual opening hours. Yet extra access hours raise a practical question: does the full advisory service have to be on hand whenever a door is open?
The Graubünden Cantonal Library in Chur answers this question with two different offerings. There are staffed hours with personnel. And there is Open Library, access outside those hours with a personal library card. The building thus becomes usable for longer without every service remaining available for just as long.
An existing audience, especially among younger people
Libraries are by no means an offering for a small group only. According to the cultural behaviour survey by the Federal Statistical Office, around 42 percent of the population aged 15 and over visited a library or media library in 2024. Among 15- to 29-year-olds the figure was around 60 percent. The BFS analysis also distinguishes private visits from those made for work or education.
These purposes of use can overlap. Someone may study for an exam and later borrow a novel. To regard the library only as a book store or exclusively as a study hall would overlook this multiple use.
The national visitor numbers, however, do not amount to a measured need for every individual Sunday opening. The survey does not state how many people would come on a Sunday in a particular municipality. For that, libraries would have to observe their local usage. But it does show that the question of accessibility concerns a considerable share of the population.
What is possible in Chur on a Sunday
The Graubünden Cantonal Library introduced its Open Library offering on 25 June 2024. According to the official information, access is possible daily from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., and throughout Sunday without staff. A valid personal library card is required; it may not be passed on to others.
Accessible areas include the reading room and the open-access section. Media can be borrowed and returned independently. Anyone who instead needs a new card, specialist advice or support with technical problems must observe the staffed hours. Closed-stack orders and other services are also not simply available around the clock.
The library also points out that video surveillance is in place. The extended access is therefore tied to rules and a specific organisation. For a concrete visit, the institution's current information remains decisive, for instance in the case of special closures. Open Library does not mean that every conceivable request can be dealt with at any time.
Access is a service in its own right
It is precisely this separation that makes the model interesting. Anyone who already knows which book they are looking for, or simply needs a workspace, does not require advice on every visit. For these people, additional building time can have an immediate benefit. Another visitor arrives with a research question and depends on specialist knowledge.
Both needs are legitimate. The quality of a library can therefore be read neither from its opening hours alone nor from the hours with a staffed counter alone. What matters is whether the information is understandable and whether people know when they can get which kind of help.
A practical test is the first use. If a person can only register during narrow time windows, a long unstaffed opening initially helps little. Equally important are understandable access rules and an environment in which different users can find their way. These are questions of design, not successes already settled by the visitor statistics.
A Sunday without the obligation to consume?
A library visit can be an alternative to places where staying is tied to placing an order. Whether that genuinely works at a low threshold locally depends on fees, access conditions and the concrete offering. The name Open Library alone does not guarantee it.
The Chur example nevertheless shows a productive path: a public place can offer additional time without pretending that every service is equally available. For how Sundays are shaped, that is a small, concrete extension. For library policy, it is a larger question: which spaces does a municipality make available to its people when normal operations take a break?
