Library

The collections of the Library of the National Archives and the libraries of the Provincial Archives serve the customers of the National Archives Service in their research that is based on archival science and archival documents. The collections include:

• Finnish and international literature on archival science, records management and the use of archives
• Literature on historical subjects
• Journals, periodicals and other library materials

The largest collections belong to the Library of the National Archives, which also acts as the national specialized scientific library for archival science as well as for heraldry and sigillography. The Library of the National Archives is responsible for the co-ordination and development of the library activities, the library database and digitization projects of the Archives Service.

All the seven Provincial Archives have their own libraries, of which the libraries of the Provincial Archives in Turku and Vaasa have the largest collections. The libraries of the Provincial Archives also have some special local collections, which have cultural and historical value.

Since the beginning of the year 2006 all the new acquisitions into the library collections of the National Archives Service have been catalogued into the national ERKKI database for Special Libraries and can also be found in the national LINDA Union Catalogue for Finnish University Libraries. At the same time as annual acquisitions were catalogued into the ERKKI database all libraries of the National Archives Service began to convert the previously manually catalogued literature into the ERKKI database. This project will continue for many years.

The library collections can be used free of charge. The libraries of the National Archives Service have no national or international loan service. There is a small fee for copies.