As a customer of the University of Eastern Finland Library, you have access to printed and electronic resources from the Joensuu and Kuopio Campus Libraries and the Kuopio University Hospital Medical Library and you can use our Interlibrary Services. When using library services, you commit to comply with the library’s terms of use.
Updating customer information
UEF Students and Staff
The contact information of students and staff at the University of Eastern Finland Library is updated from the university's databank. You do not need to report your new address separately to the library. Please note that in accordance with the University of Eastern Finland's outlining, the email address provided by the university is used for internal communication.
UEF Student
- Change your contact information at Peppi.
UEF Staff
- Change your contact information at Mepco.
When you graduate, your employment with the university begins or ends, or your relation with the university changes in any way,
please contact us to update your customer information, as you sign in to UEF Primo is connected to your UEF username.
If needed, you can also end your customership by contacting us.
Other customers
Contact the library by emailing library@uef.fi.
Use of material
Use of printed material
To borrow printed materials, you need a library card. To get a library card, register as our customer.
When applying for a customership and a library card, you enter a contract with the library. The contract gives you a terminable right to use the library's collections. At the same time, you commit to comply with the library's terms of use, and you are responsible for all materials borrowed with your card.
You must present a library card – digital or traditional – whenever you borrow or reserve printed material.
If your card is lost, please inform our customer service as soon as possible.
Logging in to our search service UEF Primo is possible after registering as our customer. When you are logged in, you can see your personal details, renew your loans, make reservations and access e-resources remotely. You can also save your data searches and favorites for later use.
Students and staff
- If you are a UEF degree or postgraduate students or UEF Open University students, register as a library customer using the Tuudo mobile app and get access to a digital library card immediately.
- If you are a member of UEF staff, and your information can be found in Peppi, register as a library customer using the Tuudo mobile app and get access to a digital library card immediately.
- If you are a member of UEF staff, but your information cannot be found in Peppi, register as a library customer by filling in the customer registration form for UEFians. Registration via the online form usually happens in a few business days. We will notify you by e-mail when you can pick up the traditional library card from our customer service. Your card will connect to your account in the Tuudo mobile app if you later use Tuudo, and will also serve as a digital library card.
Other customers
- If you do not have a UEF username, fill a customer registration form for other customers.
- Registration via the online form usually happens in a few business days. We will notify you by e-mail when you can pick up the traditional library card from our customer service. After picking up your library card, you can log in to UEF Primo. When you log in for the first time, the password is your library card number.
- You can change your password by contacting library customer service. They will provide you with more detailed instructions on how to change your password.
- You can borrow books from all the campus libraries and the KUH Medical Library.
- Borrow the books with the self-check machines.
- E-materials are accessed on the library computers or via a remote access connection.
- Staff members can make a Material delivery for staff members agreement with the library, in which case the library borrows the reserved items and delivers them to the office at the university/KUH.
Loan periods
- Course books and KUH Medical Library's books have a loan period of two weeks. Other books have a loan period of four weeks. For e-books, the loan periods vary.
- You can read reading room copies within the library premises. The reading room copies can be borrowed overnight or for the weekend.
- The library sends a courtesy notice of an upcoming due date. You must always monitor the due dates of your loans! Even if you do not receive the courtesy notification, or if there is Internet downtime or technical difficulties, you are still obliged to pay the overdue fees.
- You can return the borrowed books to any of the UEF Libraries regardless of which UEF Library you borrowed them from.
- When the library is closed, you can return the books through the book drop hatches near the libraries' front doors on your own responsibility. The library staff will return the books on the next opening day. Payments will be accrued from overdue books until their processing.
- You can return books by mail at your own risk. Pack the books carefully and send the package from the Post Office. The library does not have a mobile phone number for arrival notices, so the package cannot be sent online. The post is distributed directly to the campus, where library staff will return the books no later than the next working day. The library does not pick up packages at the Post, R-kiosk or Matkahuolto pick-up points.
- Joensuu campus library, Yliopistokatu 4, 80100 JOENSUU
- Kuopio campus library, Yliopistonranta 8, 70210 KUOPIO
- KUH medical library, Puijonlaaksontie 2, 70210 KUOPIO
- You can renew your loans in UEF Primo. For more information, go to User's guide to UEF Primo.
- If you are unable to renew a loan, it could be due to the following:
- The maximum loan period (600 days / legal deposit copies 300 days) for the book has been met.
- A reservation has been placed on the book.
- You have 10,00 € or more unpaid fees.
- Your customer information needs to be updated.
- If there are issues related to renewing, please contact the customer service.
- You can make reservations on all the UEF Libraries' both available and not currently available books on UEF Primo.
- Books available on shelves and travelling from one campus library to another have a delivery time of two working days.
- If a book has been borrowed or is located in another UEF campus library, the reservation is free of charge.
- Shelf fetch service fee for a book that is available at your own campus library is 2,00 €/book. Requested books are picked up once a work day in the morning.
- Reserving books and using the shelf fetch service is free of charge for staff members.
- Reserved books must be collected within four working days of the notification. If you do not collect the reserved book, you will be charged a fee of 1,00 €/book. This applies also to staff members. A request on a book on the reservation shelf can only be cancelled by contacting the library via email library@uef.fi.
- Pick up the book that you have reserved from the reservation shelf and borrow it. You can find the book on the shelf under your requester ID.
- If there are issues related to reserving, please contact customer service.
- Please note that you cannot place your reservation in a specific book, but the system primarily chooses a book that is located at the pick-up library and has a loan period of two weeks. If such book is not available, the reservation transfers to a book that has a loan period of four weeks. If the book is not available at all at the pick-up library, the reservation will transfer to the books of another library office.
- Reading room copies are borrowed only overnight or for the weekend.
- You can borrow an overnight loan from customer service two hours before closing the library on weekdays and four hours before closing the library on weekends. The loan period is overnight until 10.00 on the next working morning.
- Reserve a reading room copy online:
- Borrow the book at the customer service.
- Return the book to the same campus library from where you borrowed it.
- Legal deposit copies requested for reading room use cannot be borrowed outside the library. Exception: UEF staff's separately agreed office use in the campus area.
- If a reading room copy is not returned on time:
- The overdue fee is 2,50 €/book/day, max 15,00 €/book. This does not apply to staff members.
- An overnight and weekend loan block that lasts for four months will be placed on the customer. This applies also to staff members.
- Unreturned reading room copies will be invoiced on the fourth day from the due date.
Overdue fees
- Pay your fees at the campus libraries' customer service by debit or credit card (not at KUH Medical Library) or online (UEF Primo, My account).
- Overdue fee 0,50 €/item/working day will begin to accumulate immediately after the due date, maximum overdue fee is 10,00 €/item.
- For reading room loans, the overdue fee is 2,50 €/item/working day, maximum fee is 15,00 €/item.
- Overdue fees are not charged from staff members. However, if loans are overdue for 28 days or more, a loan block will become effective.
- The library sends a courtesy notice of an upcoming due date.
- The first overdue notification will be sent on the following working day after the due date, and the second overdue notification will be sent 14 days after the due date.
- Keep an eye out for the due dates of your loans! Not receiving a notification, Internet blackouts or technical issues do not relieve you of paying any overdue fees. A loan block will become effective, after 28 days of the due date, or if your accumulated fees amount to 10,00 € or more.
- The library will invoice overdue loans and unpaid fees. Unpaid invoices will be transferred to debt collection agency.
Compensating for books
Please contact the library first to discuss the matter.
You can compensate for lost or damaged books in three different ways:
- Bring the same or newer edition of the lost/damaged item for replacement. In addition, we charge 5,00 € of processing costs.
- Pay the minimum compensation fee of 50,00 € / book at the library's customer service desk. The fee consists of material compensation price 40,00 € and acquisition and processing costs 10,00 €. Items that are more expensive than 40 € must be compensated with the actual acquisition price.
- When you compensate for the item with invoice payment, the minimum compensation fee is 66,00 €. The fee consists of material compensation price 40,00 € / book, acquisition and processing costs 10,00 € / book, processing costs caused to the library by the invoicing process 11,00 € / invoice and university's financial services' invoicing fee 5,00 / invoice. Items that are more expensive than 40 € must be compensated with the actual acquisition price.
Online payment
Login to UEF Primo and choose Fine+Fees section under My Account to see the fees on your account.
Online you can pay only overdue fees, reservation fees and fines for uncollected reservations. Online payment is possible with all the Finnish online bank services and payment cards (VISA, VISA Electron, MasterCard).
Before you pay online, please note that:
- You cannot change the amount you pay; you must pay the whole amount of fees.
- The minimum sum you can pay is 1,00 €.
- If you have fees that cannot be paid online, contact the library's customer service.
- Online payment is not possible during a service break.
Click the Pay Online button.
Please be sure to return back to UEF Primo (Return to seller's service) after you have made the payment, so that it will be registered to the library system without delay.
Remote access to electronic resources
When you have a UEF-username or are a member of KUH staff, you can access the electronic resources remotely in accordance with the remote access instructions.
Use of electronic resources in the library
You can access electronic resources at the library using our customer computers:
- UEF students and staff log in with UEF username and password
- other customers can get visitor-uef login credentials (allows access to most of the resources)
Open access resources are available everywhere.
Ordering material
Ordering articles from outside the UEF library collections
If the article is not available in our library collections at UEF Primo, you can order it as a interlibrary loan copy. First, log in to UEF Primo and search for the article you want. If the status of the article is "Not available", open its details and order to the article with the "Interlibrary request" button. The information in the article fills in the opening form automatically. You can also order article copies using the online form, at the library's customer service or by e-mail at kaukopalvelu@uef.fi. We deliver the copies in paper form.
Ordering articles from the National Repository Library
NOTE! The National Repository Library is moving into new premises during 2025, which is why it will be closed for several months starting from Christmas 2024. Materials from the National Repository Library must be ordered no later than 20 December 2024.
If the article is not available in our library collections in UEF Primo, but it can be found in the National Repository Library (search service Vaari Finna), you can order it to your email as a PDF file. Ordering can be done via the library's interlibrary services using this form, at the library's customer service or by e-mail at kaukopalvelu@uef.fi
Do you need a book that is not part of our library collection? We'll order it for you to borrow from somewhere else. The sending library determines the loan period and whether you can take the book home or if it is only for reading room use.
If you need an article, please see the section Article Requets. As a rule, you can't borrow entire journals, excluding journals from the National Repository Library.
Ordering and delivery
The interlibrary services are subject to a charge and require a commitment to the library's Terms of use.
Order interlibrary loans from UEF Primo. First log in to UEF Primo and then open the “Interlibrary Request” form found at the top of the page. Alternatively, you can order a interlibrary loan using the online form, at the library's customer service or by e-mail to kaukopalvelu@uef.fi. Please fill out the form separately for each interlibrary loan. The order is binding. Unclaimed material is also charged.
We will normally process your request no later than the working day following the order. The delivery time for interlibrary loans is about a week depending on, among other things, the availability of material, the operation of the sender library and the speed of the mail. If the delivery of your order is delayed, we will notify you by e-mail. You will receive an email notification when the material can be retrieved from the library. You pay a interlibrary service fee when you pick up the material. If you are UEF or KUH staff and the institution pays for your order, we will send the material at your request by internal mail to the faculty /clinic /office.
Loan periods and returning
The loan period and renewal possibility of a interlibrary loan are determined by the sender library. The loan period is usually 2–3 weeks. You can see the interlibrary loans in your own loans at UEF Primo. Interlibrary loans ordered before 1 February 2024 are not visible in UEF Primo.
Our interlibrary services aims to renew interlibrary loans without a separate request for renewal from the customer. If necessary, you can send a interlibrary loan renewal request from UEF Primo no earlier than 7 days before the due date. Please note that we will send a return request for interlibrary loans to your e-mail when the book(s) must be returned. Return the interlibrary loan(s) to one of the branches of the University of Eastern Finland Library.
We do not charge late fees for interlibrary loans. However, unreturned or corrupt material is invoiced in accordance with the sender library's price list.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions about interlibrary services for private customers
Our university library’s extensive multidisciplinary collections are at your disposal!
Books
During the semesters, course books are available for interlibrary loan only for the UEF students and UEF Open University students. The customer’s UEF student status must be mentioned in the order.
Other lendable books are available for interlibrary loan for all customers. Reading room copies and the material in the special collections are not available for interlibrary loan.
Department libraries’ books are not available for interlibrary loan. Exception to this rule are the books at the department library of the School of Computing at the Kuopio Campus and in exceptional cases the books in the
clinic libraries at the KUH.
Theses
Theses written in Joensuu before the year 2012 are available for interlibrary loan as microfiches, and only for reading room use. After the year 2012 theses have only been published in electronic form. Some of the theses are only available for use in the facilities of the University of Eastern Finland Library.
Journals
We do not borrow journals but we will supply article copies.
Delivery information
The service is subject to a charge. The fees are based on the effective list of service fees of the University of Eastern Finland. The borrowing library will charge their customers as according to their own list of service fees. Libraries will be invoiced four times a year.
The loan period for course books is 14 days and 28 days for other books. Libraries can follow and renew their loans in the UEF Primo. However, the loans will be renewed automatically if it is possible to renew them. A request to return the interlibrary loan is sent only when it is no longer possible to renew it. No overdue fees are collected from libraries and the loan block does not apply to them. Any unreturned items will be invoiced according to the UEF Library’s list of service fees.
Article copies will be supplied as PDF files to be printed on paper before passing on to the customer. Article copies on e-journals will be supplied if the licensing agreement allows it. Electronic distribution and retention of PDF files is not permitted.
Order instructions
You must make a separate order for each book or article either with a interlibrary loan request form or by email. In the order you must give information on the ordered material and, in addition, the library’s delivery address, Melinda code or National Repository Library’s customer number and the invoicing address if it differs from the delivery address.
If requested, a reservation can be placed on a book for the borrowing library. Libraries cannot make reservations by themselves.
Terms of order
The order is binding.
The borrowing library agrees to comply with the University of Eastern Finland Library’s terms of use and is responsible for the ordered interlibrary loans and article files.
At the latest the order will be processed on the next working day after its arrival. The requested material will be dispatched at the
latest on the second working day after the arrival of the order. We follow the interlibrary loan services’ national and international
principles and guidelines: economic efficiency, precision, speed.
Legal deposit copies You can place a request on the legal deposit copies or ask for availability by filling in the Deposit copy request form.
Delivery time of legal deposit copies is 2–7 days. A legal deposit copy is for you to use within the library's facilities as a reading room loan.
Legal deposit working stations
The library has digital materials that are accessed via separate working stations:
- Finnish e-materials
- Radio and TV archives
- Electronic legal deposit copies
- Digitised newspapers and journals
Storage requests from the Joensuu and Kuopio campus library storages
- Information on material can be found in UEF Primo.
- Place a request in UEF Primo, with a storage request form or at the customer service.
Library premises and devices
Working spaces
The library provides facilities for silent studying and group working, accompanied with common rooms for leisure. Our wish is that you, as a customer, take others also into consideration and contribute to everyone's working peace and comfort.
For Easy Access, the library provides electronically adjustable working stations. Customers with a reading disability can join the Celia special library at their own campus library.
When using the library’s facilities, you must comply with the library’s terms of use.
You are responsible for the property you leave on the library premises. Items left in the library are treated as lost items. At the university, the facility management officers are responsible for lost and found items.
University of Eastern Finland Library has declared itself a Discrimination-free zone. We welcome all people to the library and commit to treating all customers and staff members equally. More information about the campaign.
Floor guides
From the Joensuu campus library's floor guides, you can find information on the location of different working spaces and literature in your own discipline in the library.
Free-use group work rooms
In the Joensuu campus library's third floor's halls 3A and 3B there are group work rooms for students. The Rooms can be used when they are free. There is no booking for these rooms.
Work rooms you can book from Oppari
In the Joensuu campus library's second floor there are group work rooms for students. You can book them via Oppari.
Sound Zones
Joensuu Campus Library has Sound Zones to help customers identify suitable working areas.
Silent area
- Talking and calls are not allowed
- Using a computer is allowed, use headphones
Working area
- Quiet talking is allowed, take others into consideration
- Calls are not allowed
- Using a computer allowed, use headphones
Lounge area
- Talking, using a computer, and calls are allowed
Bookable Workroom
The library has one bookable workroom, primarily intended for users of RTVA material and archival material. While the room is vacant, it can also be used by other customers. The room can be booked in advance by contacting the library at library@uef.fi
Kuopio University Hospital Medical Library is a joint library of the Pohjois-Savo hospital district and the UEF.
Group study rooms
Students book the group study spaces for three hours/day/person KUH Medical Library (room-kuo-KYS_ryhmis1, room-kuo-KYS_ryhmis2 and room-kuo-KYS_ryhmis3) using their O365 Outlook calendar and the hospital staff can contact the customer services. If the user does not arrive within 15 minutes from the beginning of the reservation, the space is available for others.
Using the library outside the opening hours
Do you want to use the library after closing time? If you are a UEF student or staff member and have a library card, you can apply for a personal access badge to the library. Anyone with a UEF username, such as Open University students and international students, can apply for the access badge. The badge is valid for as long as your UEF username. As a user of the badge, you accept the Commitment agreement for use of self-study facilities.
Fill in the form (requires registration with UEF) managed by the university’s Key Services. Please note that the application usually takes a few business days to process. You will be notified in your email when the badge is available to be picked up from the Key Services or when the rights you have applied for have been updated to an existing badge. You can find more information about the university's self-study facilities and the practices related to applying for a badge on Kamu. If you have any questions about the access badge, you can find the contact information for Key Services here.
When the Joensuu and Kuopio campus libraries close, we will clear the premises to ensure that no outsiders remain on the premises. 15 minutes after the library closes, you can return to our premises with your personal access badge. You can enter the library with a badge before 11 p.m., but once you arrive you can use the space throughout the night. Please note, however, that the facilities are not intended for accommodation and there is a security guard patrolling the premises.
Do you want to use the library before it opens? With your personal access badge, you can access the Joensuu and Kuopio campus libraries daily from 7 a.m.
What can you do in the library during self-service hours? You can pick up reservations as well as use the self-check machines. Computers and multi-function printers are available for printing, copying and scanning. You can also pick up reservations and use the library's open spaces and the materials in them. If you are looking for quiet working conditions, self-service time is a good option.
Follow the news and notices on the use of the space on the communication platform Viva Engage's UEF 24/7 Kirjasto|Library group, from the library’s home page and within the library’s premises.
24/7 self-service time at Joensuu Campus Library
To use the library during the 24/7 self-service hours, enter the library with your personal access badge through Carelia building's exterior F-door. The door is located next to Alkukivet (the three-part sculpture located near the Carelia building). Please note that the F-door is not used during the library's opening hours. Instead, access will be through the library's main entrance from inside the building.
During the 24/7 self-service hours, you will have access to the 1st floor of the library, excluding the Olola lounge area and the Liukula and Avola storage facilities. In addition, you can use the stair landings on the 2nd and 3rd floors, which are also accessible by elevator. For security reasons, there is no access to the 2A, 2B, 3A and 3B halls and their group work facilities during self-service hours. The library's Sound Zones are also in use during self-service hours, so please note that your use of sound will remain moderate.
The toilet facilities are available on the 2nd and 3rd stair landings. Thera are toilets also at the first-floor corridor between Carelia and Conservatory of Music. Please remember to bring your personal access badge when using the toilet in the corridor, as the door only works with the access badge.
24/7 self-service time at Kuopio Campus Library
During the 24/7 self-service hours, use the A-door to enter the Snellmania building. You can enter the library from the door near the stairs. You will need your personal access badge for both doors. If you want to continue working in the library after it closes, you can wait in the lobby of the Snellmania building for 15 minutes until you can return to the facilities.
The toilet facilities are available in the lobby of the Snellmania building. During the 24/7 self-service hours, you will be able to move freely between the lobby and the library with your personal access badge.
Security during the 24/7 self-service hours
The access badge is personal: you are not permitted to allow others to enter the premises with your access badge. You are not allowed to enter as a group with one access badge or give it to anyone else. The access badge holder is liable to pay damages.
The security guard patrolling in space has the right to verify the access badge and identity of anyone within the premises. There is a recording camera surveillance in the space. Any breach of the Commitment agreement will always result in termination of the access rights.
Keep the working area nice and tidy. We recommend taking your belongings with you when leaving the library premises at closing time, even if you are returning later with your access badge. If you leave your belongings in the library, we will leave them in place until the morning.
When working on computers, please take information security into account. When you leave the customer computer, lock or close it.
Familiarise yourself with the emergency exits and their locations in advance. In case of an emergency, call 112. If the fire alarm goes off, exit the building immediately.
If you lock yourself out, please contact the security guard. Their phone numbers are on the doors of the library. If you have problems with your access badge, contact university’s Key Services.
Customer computers and printers
Within the library facilities, there are computers, printers, copying machines, scanners, quick printing points and microcard readers for our customers to use.
You can get assistance in IT problems by Oppari and UEF Digital Services in Joensuu and Kuopio.
Common rules for the computer area
- There is plenty of use for computers, so please other users into consideration. If the university’s computer is not used for 15 minutes, it’s freely available to other customers.
- You are responsible for your information security: do not leave the session open when you leave the computer.
- Installation of own programs on university computers is prohibited. The university is not responsible for any functional failure of equipment or software on its premises or for any damage caused to the user by malware.
- As a library customer, you are obliged to comply with the university's information security guidelines and rules.
The Joensuu and Kuopio campus libraries have Optima IT Device Lending Machines, which are managed by Oppari. You can borrow laptops from the machines. In Kuopio, an IT Device Lending Machine can also be found in Oppari. The devices are intended for short-term use, for up to four hours at a time. Instructions for using IT Device Lending Machines can be found in Kamu.
IT Services
- You can get assistance in IT problems by Oppari and UEF Digital Services in Joensuu and Kuopio.
Instructions for printing and copying
Tools for students are presented in Kamu
Students and staff members
- Computers for customer use: log in using your UEF username and password.
KUH Medical Library
- Computers with UEF network: log in using your UEF username and password.
- Signified computers for customers use can be used with PSSHP username and password.
Other customers
- You can get visitor-uef login credentials for computers at the customer service at the Kuopio Campus Library and KUH Medical Library, along with Oppari at Joensuu Campus Library by presenting photograph identification.
You can access the wireless uef-open network without credentials.
Availability and accessibility
The library staff is ready to assist you in using the collections. If needed, you can contact us beforehand by e-mail: library@uef.fi.
Joensuu Campus Library
On campus, there are several parking spaces for persons with disabilities. Joensuu Campus Library is located inside the Carelia building and is entered through the exterior doors E and A. When the library is closed, the 24/7 self-service facility is available with an access badge through F door. There are disabled access ramps at the doors. The E door is accessible, other exterior doors are not. The library has three floors and an elevator can be used to access them. The tables of self-lending machines and single tables at different floors are adjustable electric tables.
Kuopio Campus Library
On campus, there are several parking spaces for persons with disabilities. Kuopio Campus Library is located inside the Snellmania Building and is accessible from the A door (main door) of the Snellmania building. Inside the lobby, there is a door opening button on the library door at the foot of the staircase. The 24/7 self-study facilities available with an access badge are also accessible from the above doors. The tables of self-lending machines and tables in the computer area are adjustable electric tables.
KUH Medical Library
At the hospital, there are several parking spaces for persons with disabilities. KUH Medical Library is located in the main lobby of Kuopio University Hospital, Puijo and is accessible from the hospital's main door A. Inside the lobby, at the library door, there is a door opening button.
Celia, the national center for accessible literature and publishing in Finland Special Library
Celia provides course books in accessible formats for print-disabled students. You can register as Celia's customer at your own Campus Library by reaching the local Celia contact person beforehand.
Celia contacts
- Kuopio: Information Services Advisor Tero Heiskanen tero.heiskanen@uef.fi
- Joensuu: Information Services Advisor Salla Holm salla.holm@uef.fi
Student handbook UEF Kamu provides information on accessible studies and individual study arrangements.
Get to know your library
- Tutors can book an introductory library tours to their own group.
- Group size max. 15 persons.
- The tour lasts about 30 minutes.
For the international students, the library tours are organised in cooperation with the International Mobility Services.
- Watch a short virtual tour of Joensuu Campus Library. Here is an accessible version of the tour.
- Watch a video tour (3:15) of Joensuu Campus Library.
- Watch a short virtual tour of Kuopio Campus Library. Here is an accessible version of the tour.
- Watch a video tour (2:35) of Kuopio Campus Library.
- Library tours can also be organised on a separate agreement.
- A library tours are booked from the customer services.
Contact information
If you have questions about loans or fees, please contact library@uef.fi.
If you have questions about interlibrary services, please contact kaukopalvelu@uef.fi.
Phone numbers and addresses of all library offices can be found in the contact information.