Get to know our materials

• Course books are available on open shelves at the ASA Library in Turku and the Academill Library in Vaasa.
• The most frequently used and newest subject and research literature is available on open shelves at the Arken Library in Turku and the Academill Library in Vaasa.
  
  Other subject and research literature is stored in closed stacks and must be requested via Alma-Finna.
  
  If you study at Novia, you should use Alma-Finna Novia.

• Åbo Akademi University Library is one of six Legal Deposit Libraries in Finland and therefore holds a very large collection of Finnish material, including fiction.
  
  The legal deposit system is based on the Act on the Deposit and Preservation of Cultural Material.
• The material is stored in our closed stacks and must be requested via Alma-Finna.If you study at Novia, you should use Alma-Finna Novia.
• Ephemera (e.g. brochures, annual reports, small guides) are only partially listed in Alma.
  
  Contact the library if you are interested in a specific type of ephemera.

In addition to printed legal deposit copies, the library has access to electronic Legal Deposit material.
This material is available on a computer at the Arken Library.
Contact the library to book use of the computer.

Note:

• Bring something to take notes with / your own laptop / smartphone to take pictures.
• Unfortunately, it is not possible to print from the legal deposit terminal.
• The terminal is not connected to the internet.

The computer provides access to:

• RITVA – the TV and radio archive
  • Contains Finnish radio and TV programs archived by the National Audiovisual Institute (KAVI)
  • RITVA includes the full broadcast flow from major radio and TV channels, as well as selected content from other channels since 2009.
  • It also includes Yle’s digitized TV programs from 1957–2008.
  • The RITVA catalogue is available online.
• The Finnish web archive
  
  Finnish websites archived by the National Library are available through the legal deposit terminal.
  • Websites have been archived through annual automated collections and thematic collections since 2006.
  • The web archive catalogue is available online.
• Varia – a digital legal deposit archive
  
  Contains deposited electronic legal deposit copies of books, newspapers, and music recordings.

• Digital newspapers can be accessed via Pressreader, which includes over 6,000 newspapers in more than 60 languages from over 100 countries.
  
  You can also use the service remotely.
• ePress is the second digital newspaper service offered by the library.
  
  It can only be accessed when connected to the ÅAU network on campus.
  
  The number of simultaneous users is also limited.
• Printed newspapers are listed in a separate database called Tidning.
  
  They are often preserved on microfilm and can be read at the Arken Library.
• The National Library’s Historical Newspaper Library is freely available online.
  
  It contains digitized newspapers and journals published up to 1939.
  
  Material published between 1940–2021 is available for research purposes via the Tutkain service.

E-resources are digital content provided by the library to support research, teaching, learning, and general information seeking. Many resources are licensed, meaning the library pays for access and usage is governed by agreements.

Alma-Finna also includes electoronic resources that are freely available to use. This means you do not need to log in with your ÅAU username to access them.

E-resources include various types of materials, such as:

• E-books: Digital versions of printed books or books published exclusively in electronic format.
• E-journals: Academic and popular science journals in digital form.
• Databases: Specialized search services containing collections of articles, reports, statistics, images, audio, video, and other types of information.
• Reference works: Digital encyclopedias, dictionaries, and handbooks.
• Archival material: Digitized collections of historical documents, letters, photographs, and more.

Who can use the e-resources?
The following groups have access to Åbo Akademi University’s e-resources:

• Students, researchers, teachers, and other staff at ÅAU
• Students at the Open University
• External customers visiting the library’s service points

To use e-resources from home or outside ÅAU’s network, you need:

• An ÅAU username and password
• To login via the library’s search portal Alma-Finna

If you do not have an ÅAU username, you can still use e-resources:

• On-site at the library via public customer computers or by using Åbo Akademi’s wireless guest network which is available in the library premises.

Read more about the terms of use for electronic resources.
Read more about how to find e-resources in Alma-Finna search portal

Note: Students and staff at Novia use the e-resources in Alma-Finna Novia and log in with their Novia username.

The library holds many culturally and historically valuable special collections. These include collections that belonged to individuals, families, estates, or that focus on specific geographical areas.
These collections are temporarily unavailable from 1 March 2025 until the new Book Tower reopens in 2027.

• Among the special collections are, for example, the RAR collection, which consists of general literature from the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, the Schauman collection, and the Gadolin collection, which is listed in the national UNESCO Memory of the World Programme.
• Parts of the special collections can be searched via the Alma-Finna search portal.

The archive collections at Åbo Akademi University Library consist of the Manuscript Collections and the Image Collections. Read more about the materials and archive services on the Archive Collections webpage.

The collections have been formed through donations, mainly from private individuals, but also from companies and associations. Among the donors are several authors, artists, and researchers with connections to ÅAU or Turku.

• In the Archive Collections you can find personal and family archives as well as the archives of several estates, companies and organizations.
• We also have a considerable photographical portrait collection of identified people, as well as photographs of landscapes  from different parts of Finland.
• The archival material consists of letters, diaries, manuscripts, estate records, photographs, and prints.
• Please contact the Archive Collections in advance if you are interested in the materials or services.
  
  We are happy to answer questions and help you find source material for essays and theses.

• The Institute of Maritime History at Åbo Akademi University organises seminars, publishes works in its field and maintains an extensive special archive and library focusing on maritime history and maritime ethnology.
• The archive collections consist of personal, shipping company and corporate archives. The archives include ship’s logs, ship documents, drawings, nautical charts, correspondence, photographs, art and audio tapes.
• The Institute has been publishing since its inception in 1936. Since 2005, all publications have been concentrated in the main series Meddelanden från Sjöhistoriska institutet vid Åbo Akademi (Communications from the Maritime History Institute at Åbo Akademi University), which includes monographs, anthologies and conference reports. Starting with issue 38 (2024), it will be published in parallel in print and as a freely accessible digital publication, and will be eligible for credits (Jufo 1).
• Please contact the Institute in advance if you are interested in these materials and services. We are happy to answer questions and help you find source material for essays and theses.