Unpacking the Public Library as Third Place Through Librarians’ Day-to-Day Practices

This paper examines how library workers approach their daily practices in the contemporary struggle to (be)come a third place. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork at Rotterdam Public Library, we challenge Oldenburg’s characteristics of third place and reveal their hidden hierarchy. Our multi-sensory findings show that fully achieving a third place is difficult; in practice, the library is a partial third place, as library workers often prioritize neutral ground over other characteristics. These tensions expose the limits of third place in theory and practice; nevertheless, it enables dialogue about ‘appropriate’ behavior of visitors, ‘appropriate’ librarians’ work, and differing interpretations of the library as a public space.