E-library, provided by the National Library of Finland in cooperation with public libraries, was launched on 29 April 2024. The service was designed in a two-year project funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture, which set as its goals increasingly equal e-library services across Finland and the merging of fragmented services into a one-stop-shop electronic library. Based on the first year of operations, these goals are being met, while development efforts continue.

Regional access improved and material used intensively

Before E-library, Finnish municipal library clusters and libraries held a total of 40 collections of e-books and audiobooks, with a median size of 7,613 titles. Library clusters denote open collaboration between independent municipal and city libraries, reaching across municipal and administrative boundaries. In 13 clusters or individual municipalities, collection scope remained under 5,000 titles; 16 clusters meanwhile held a larger number of titles and, consequently, more diverse collections. At the moment, the E-library collection encompasses more than 7,000 titles, for which there are tens of thousands of reading rights. The number of holds is monitored and more reading rights acquired according to demand.

Previously, only four library clusters offered literature in English and other languages. In other words, E-library diversified the material available through 29 clusters or municipalities in terms of language. While the number of titles in English and other languages in particular decreased in large cities compared with previous regional collections, the E-library collection continues to grow also in terms of this content.

In particular, the availability of remotely accessible Finnish digital magazines improved considerably in many areas. Previously, this content was available in 14 regional collections, which were accessible to roughly half of the Finnish population. Now, Finnish digital magazines are available to almost all residents of Finland. 

In 2024 the utilisation rate of the collection exceeded 80%, while the corresponding rate of the regional collections previously ranged from 40% to 60%. The goal is to establish a shared and evolving collection where material is not preserved indefinitely and the entire collection is effectively used.

E-library’s growth was made possible by the majority of Finnish municipalities joining from the start. To date, 280 municipalities have joined the service, which now covers 97% of Finnish residents. E-library is actively used throughout Finland. 

Availability of material improved and new users found E-library

E-library’s material acquisition process is centralised, and all users have access to the same collection. Currently all Finnish publishers are offering material to E-library. The availability of such material has improved significantly since before the service launched. E-library also contains material provided by international publishers in different languages.

Annastiina Louhisalmi, E-library’s Head of Services, is pleased with the positive trend. “I’m particularly pleased that, based on feedback, many people who have not previously used library services at all have now found their way to E-library.”

E-library’s development will continue intensively, with a web interface as the top priority this year. Its introduction is planned for no later than in the beginning of 2026. 

E-library in brief

• E-library is accessed on mobile devices using an app with the same name.
• E-library can be used by anyone whose municipality of residence has joined the service. A list of municipalities
• Initial login to the app requires strong authentication, after which users can create a passkey that makes logging in faster.
• Users who do not have access to strong authentication can ask library staff in their municipality of residence to create an E-library account for them.
• The loan period for books is two weeks, while individual magazines can be read for up to two hours at a time.
• Help in using the service is available at local libraries.

E-library in numbers

• Over 200,000 registered users
• Over 7,000 titles (books)
• Tens of thousands of reading rights for books
• Over 100 magazines
• Roughly a million book loans
• Roughly four million magazine readings