Library visits have increased in number as economic worries prompt the public to save money. Finland has traditionally been a literature-loving country, but until two years ago the number of visitors annually was declining. Now people are more concerned with keeping their purse strings drawn, says Virva Nousiainen-Hiiri, Head of Acquisitions and Cataloguing at Helsinki City Library.

Library services have diversified to the extent that many people never actually borrow anything, but remain in the library. “These days, in order to save money, people might come to the library to read the newspaper or use the free internet service, rather than to borrow books,” explains Nousiainen-Hiiri. Figures indicate that the number of items loaned has decreased dramatically despite an increase in visitor numbers.

Finland has a large number of libraries – a total of 384 main libraries, 449 branch libraries, plus 160 mobile and 55 hospital versions, with a total of just under 100 million loans last year. About 80 per cent of Finns use library services, and it is the most frequently used cultural service in Finland. Statistics from Helsinki indicate, however, that library usage has shown a downward trend in the capital region in terms of visitor numbers since 2002, a drop from over seven million to just over 6.4 million last year. Nonetheless, the lowest point was 6.3 million visitors in 2006, so some upward development is evident.

Expanding services

The expansion of library services into new media provision has been important. “Naturally the most popular material is still books. In 2008 58 per cent of Helsinki City Library purchases were printed books. But DVDs and CDs accounted for almost 20 per cent. We try to purchase these as comprehensively as possible, subject to copyright limitations of course – we cannot always obtain library rights.” Libraries have also started to invest in Blu-ray discs and console games.


In certain regions, libraries have had to evolve purchasing practices to take account of changing populations, Nousiainen-Hiiri explains. “We are prepared to respond to the increase in the number of different languages spoken in the metropolitan area,” she says, “Diversified collections are purchased in languages that are most commonly spoken and studied. A library can also specialise according to local needs, for example in Swedish language services, depending on the area.” Items can normally be reserved and ordered online.


Despite positive indicators that more Finns are making use of public services, the Ministry of Education’s Library Strategy 2010 admits that “during the information society boom, standards of municipal libraries in Finland, and citizen’s access to information, have begun to deteriorate.” Expanding services and collections is a recommendation of the report, with the introduction of so-called ‘hybrid libraries’, which aim to provide both physical and ‘virtual’ services, with the aim of allowing the public to use the library not only as a book depository but as a place to use the internet and access other public services.

Nick Barlow - HT