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700 000 books in one card

Text: Susanna Siironen Photo: Susanna Siironen, Milan Kolarovic

In Finland there are very long traditions with libraries. For us a library is everyman´s right. For a student library is a great place to read today´s paper and the latest books. But our library is not just a Finnish privilege but even every exchange student can obtain a library card.

In Oulu City Library there founds among others books in English, French, Italian, Spanish, Chinese and Russian.

In Oulu City Library there are books from novelties to classics. In the year 2006 they counted that there were over 700 000 books in Oulu City Library's collection. There is also a lot of different kind of recordings, for example CD's, DVD's and talking books.

Magazines are also a very important service offered by the library. In Oulu City Library you may go to read lots of different kind of magazines and newspapers. From the shelf you will find among others papers and magazines like The Times, Vogue, Newsweek and GuitarOne.

Books by card

For borrowing material from the library you will need a library card. With this card you may borrow books and other material from every unit of Oulu City Library. There are 12 branch libraries which are situated around the city. So if you do not want to go to downtown, just find the nearest library around you.

The student card of OSAKO can also be used as a library card in the libraries of Oulu UAS and City of Oulu.

From Oulu City Library there are books in English from side to side. Well-known Adam Douglas and J.R.R. Tolkien are waiting that someone would borrow them. I could not help smiling when I see The Seinfeld's scripts in the shelf of dramatic literature. And of course there are also some classics like Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace" and Finnish Mika Waltari's "The Egyptian". And this is just a small peek to the library's supply.

In libraries you may also use computers and the Internet. And its all free.

Library on the Internet

When you obtain a library card you also get a password to the personal library website. With that password you can browse, renew or reserve library material via the Internet or the Online Public Access Catalogue.

The password is given only in person in the library. At the same time you might want to ask the librarian to show you how the webpage works. This is a very helpful service when you for example notice at 10 p.m. that you forgot to return your loans. Just log into the website and renew your loans.

You can use the personal library website in English. Generally in the libraries you get service in English. Unfortunately most of the signs are written in Finnish, but you may always ask help.

School libraries

Oulu UAS and the University of Oulu have their own libraries. Oulu UAS library has eight different branches, one in every school. So go ahead and find your school's library.

When you study in Oulu UAS, you may use library.s web material also from home. Library has for example different kinds of magazines on the internet. The most important thing is of course studying and from Oulu UAS libraries you can also easily find required reading.

Library of the University of Oulu is a deposit library which means that there is at least one copy of every book that has been published in Finland. Therefore they have kind of a good selection.

Some of the books at the library of the University of Oulu you may read only in the library premises. That is because books may be for example very desired or rare. Still you may go to read the books in the library and also borrow those with library card of the University of Oulu. No matter if you study in the university, both higher education libraries are free for all customers.

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