The legal deposit collection is an accumulating, statutory collection of Finnish printed and electronic publications. It includes books, journals, sheet music and maps, web pages, tv and radio programmes, as well as games in addition to sound and other recordings published in Finland. Legal deposit copies can be used in the library premises by anyone in need of information.
University of Eastern Finland Library is one of the six legal deposit libraries in Finland. As part of legal deposit activities, the library receives national cultural materials to its collection free of charge. The legal deposit copies are a significant addition to the coverage of domestic resources in the library collection.
956,873
Printed legal deposit copies in total (2023)
162,664
Legal deposit copies in UEF Primo (2023)
4,175
Periodical titles in the legal deposit collection (2023)
Printed books
- The collection includes printed books starting from the year 1981. Not all of them have been catalogued into UEF Primo.
- UEF Primo contains non-fiction books and serials starting from 2008 and some of the titles published between 1981 and 2007. The majority of older books are not catalogued in UEF Primo. Materials mainly missing from there include fiction, children and youngsters’ books, cartoons, annual reports, official publications, and statistics. Information about the uncatalogued material can be obtained from the Finna database, as well as from the National Library Search Service.
- Books in UEF Primo can be requested for reading room use in the library premises by placing a legal deposit copy request: 1. Log in to UEF Primo and find the book. 2. Select Legal deposit copy request. 3. Write down the pick-up library (Joensuu / Kuopio / KUH). 4. Submit request.
- Books not included in UEF Primo can be requested by filling in the Legal deposit copy request form.
- Delivery time for the resources ranges from 2 to 7 days. The book must be borrowed at the library's service desk within seven days after the notification was sent. The borrowed material will be stored at customer service, from where it can be obtained upon request.
- Requesting a legal deposit copy is free of charge. The loan period for legal deposit copies is four weeks. The loans can be renewed in UEF Primo just like any other loans.
- You need to register as a library customer to gain access to the printed books.
- The staff members of the University of Eastern Finland and KUH may take legal deposit copies to their offices/rooms for research purposes. You can either personally pick up the material at the library, or make a material delivery agreement with the library, in which case the material is delivered to your office/room via internal mail. You can make the agreement by filling in the Material delivery agreement for staff members form.
- Further information in the blog post Start using cultural materials: the library's printed legal deposit copies.
E-books
- Legal deposit copies of electronic books (both e-books and e-audiobooks), as well as books under copyright that have been digitized by the National Library of Finland, can be found in the Varia database, which can be accessed at the legal deposit workstations.
- Legal deposit copies are mainly from the 21st century, whereas digitized material includes titles older than that. Only a small part of the books published in Finland over the centuries are currently digitized.
- Part of the books included in Varia has been catalogued into UEF Primo.
- Information about the books not included in UEF Primo can be found in the National Library Search Service.
- Further information in the blog post Legal deposit workstations - a pathway to electronic cultural materials.
Printed journals
- The collection includes printed journals starting from the year 1981. Newspapers and so-called ephemera (advertising papers, bulletins, newsletters) are not added to the collection.
- Legal deposit journals are not catalogued into UEF Primo. Information about them can be searched from Finna and from the National Library Search Service. There is a separate list of the journals that have been or are still regularly delivered to the legal deposit collection.
- Journals can be requested for reading room use in the library premises by filling in the Legal deposit copy request form. The delivery time ranges from 2 to 7 days. The journals must be borrowed at the library's lending desk within seven days after the notification was sent. The borrowed material will be stored at customer service, from where it can be obtained upon request.
- Requesting a legal deposit copy is free of charge. The loan period for legal deposit copies is four weeks. The loans can be renewed in UEF Primo just like any other loans.
- You need to register as a library customer to gain access to the printed journals.
- Further information in the blog post Start using cultural materials: the library's printed legal deposit copies.
Serial publications digitized by the National Library of Finland
- Newspapers, journals, and ephemera, digitized by the National Library of Finland, can be found in the Digi database, which is accessed at the legal deposit workstations.
- Serial publications have been digitized mainly from the 1940s backwards and from the 2010s onwards. Digitization of the remaining period is going on.
- Earliest publications (mainly pre-1940), including copyright free volumes, are available open access.
- You can check which serial volumes are available open access from the list of titles in Digi, and which are only available at the legal deposit workstations.
- Only open access publications are catalogued into UEF Primo, and the information is not up-to-date.
- Information about the titles not included in UEF Primo can be found in the National Library Search Service.
- Further information in the blog post Legal deposit workstations - a pathway to electronic cultural materials.
Electronic legal deposit journals
- Legal deposit copies of electronic journals can be found in the Varia database, which is accessed at the legal deposit workstations. Journals are mainly from the 21st century.
- Journals included in Varia are not catalogued into UEF Primo, nor to Finna.
- Further information in the blog post Legal deposit workstations - a pathway to electronic cultural materials.
Online journals
- Since 2006, Finnish online journals have been harvested to the Finnish Web Archive, which is available at the legal deposit workstations.
- Further information in the blog post Legal deposit workstations - a pathway to electronic cultural materials.
Finnish Web Archive
- Finnish web pages, harvested by the National Library of Finland, can be found in the Finnish Web Archive, accessible at the legal deposit workstations.
- Since 2006, web pages have been collected through annual and continuous harvesting, as well as with harvests focused on a specific theme.
- The index of the Finnish Web Archive is available open access.
- Further information in the blog post Legal deposit workstations - a pathway to electronic cultural materials.
Radio and Television Archive
- Finnish radio and television programmes, recorded by the National Audiovisual Institute (KAVI), can be found in the RITVA database accessible at the legal deposit workstations.
- Starting from the year 2009, RITVA includes the streams of major radio and television channels in their entirety, as well as samples from other channels.
- In addition, RITVA contains digitized television programmes of the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE, from 1957-2008.
- The index of RITVA is available open access.
- Further information in the blog post Legal deposit workstations - a pathway to electronic cultural materials.
Printed sheet music and maps
- The collection includes sheet music and maps starting from the year 1981. They can be requested for reading room use in the library premises by filling in the Legal deposit copy request form. The delivery time ranges from 2 to 7 days.
- Requesting a legal deposit copy is free of charge. The loan period for legal deposit copies is four weeks. The loans can be renewed in UEF Primo just like any other loans.
- Sound and other recordings, or games, are not included in the collection.
Digital maps, games, and audio recordings
- Online music deposited to the National Library of Finland, as well as in-copyright maps, games, and audio recordings digitized by the National Library of Finland, can be found in the Varia database, accessible at the legal deposit workstations.
- The legal deposit audio recordings are from the 21st century, while the recordings digitized by the National Library are mainly older than that.
- Part of the material has been catalogued to the National Library Search Service.
- Further information in the blog post Legal deposit workstations - a pathway to electronic cultural materials.
Search for legal deposit material
Legal deposit workstations for digital resources
The library has specified legal deposit workstations with the access to the following digital resources:
- Finnish Web Archive. Finnish online resources collected by the National Library of Finland since 2006.
- Ritva. Radio and Television Archive since starting from the year 2009 (also includes older material from YLE).
- Varia. Electronic legal deposit copies.
- Digi. Copyrighted journals and newspapers since 1940, digitized by the National Library of Finland.
You can read, listen, and watch the contents of the resources. You cannot make a digital copy of the contents. However, you can film and photograph images on the computer screen and record sounds from the loudspeakers.
It is possible to save searches in the Radio and Television Archive when you are logged in to the service with your personal username and password. You can get the username and password from KAVI (The National Audiovisual Institute): rtva@kavi.fi.
You can take printouts of web pages, digitized newspapers, and journals. Printing is subject to a charge.
The workstations do not have Internet connection. The most common office software is installed on the workstations, but you cannot save files to your own storage medium or send them by email. In other words, it is advisable to bring your own laptop when working on the legal deposit workstations.
The University of Eastern Finland Library has two legal deposit workstations: one at the Joensuu Campus Library (Hall 2B) and one at the Kuopio Campus Library (Room 1052.1). The workstations are equipped with headphones. Printing is possible from both workstations.
The legal deposit workstation can be used when it is free. You can also reserve the workstation by contacting the library's customer service.