Public Library - Gateway to Knowledge
The public library is your local gateway to knowledge. It offers what people need for lifelong learning and for making decisions. It supports the cultural growth of each person and of social groups. (UNESCO Public Library Manifesto 1994)
The library offers you information and support for your studies. It has lots about leisure interests too.
Your library has:
-Fiction and non-fiction, poetry, picture books
-Newspapers and magazines
-Language courses, music and videos
-Items in electronic format
-Brochures, study manuals, information booklets.
Some of those items may be in several languages.
You can borrow most of the books and other things.
You can not borrow reference works or magazines.
Library staff know their job! They will gladly help you find what you need.
In Finland, libraries support equality, free thinking and free speech. They have books and other items about various political views, religions and beliefs. Libraries serve adults and children, Finns and foreigners alike.
Every town or district has a public library. It is Finland's most-used cultural service. There are research libraries too, mainly for university staff and students.
Money from taxes pays for public libraries. Everyone can use them free of charge.
|
|
|
Many libraries have computers for customers to use.
|
Using libraries
There are rules about using libraries. You can get a copy of them from any library. Please read them with care.
Libraries are open to all. You can go there to read, or to seek information. In many libraries you can listen to music. You may also be able to access the Internet. You can go there just to look around too!
There will be other people in the library. Please respect their right to read and work in peace.
A library card
To borrow something from the library, you need a library card. Everyone who lives in Finland can have one.
To get a library card you must show formal identification. Children must have written consent from a parent or guardian.
Take good care of your library card! Nobody else may use it. If you lose it, tell the library at once.
|
|
|
To the left there is the previous library
card. You can still use it. If you’d like
to have a new card, it will cost three euros.
|
Borrowing
When you borrow an item, note how long you can keep it. You can normally keep a book for 4 weeks. You can normally keep videos and recorded music for one week.
Treat library items with care. Keep them neat and clean. If they get lost or damaged, you must pay for them.
Return borrowed items in good time. Someone else may need them. You will have to pay a small fee if you return them late.
|
|
|
A staff registers your loan on a computer.
|
Use the library
Your library offers knowledge and recreation. In the library you can find out about Finland. You can find out about most other countries and cultures too!
It is important to maintain your own language. Reading helps you do that. Bring your family to the library. Read aloud to your children. That will help them nurture their language too.
Reading is fun!
|
|
|
It's a good to encourage children
to become library users.
|
Multilingual Library
All libraries have items in several languages. What a library keeps in stock depends on the library's size. It also depends on the languages in the local community.
If your library has not got what you want, please ask the staff for help. They will try to get items for
you in any language. They can ask a bigger library or the Multilingual Library. They can also get things from Helsinki City Library's foreign language stock.
The Multilingual Library is a part of Helsinki City Library. It has books, music and videos to send to other libraries.
Helsinki City Library's stock is all in the HelMet-database. You can browse it on the Internet.
The address is: www.helmet.fi
Info Bank
The pages of Info Bank contain important basic information for immigrants on the functioning of society and opportunities in Finland. http://www.infopankki.fi/en-GB/home/
Publisher: Multilingual
Library / Helsinki City Library
Editor: Ari Sainio
Pictures: Jutta Huldén
