The digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi service recently surpassed the 30-million-page mark. The service contains newspapers, journals, ephemera, maps, library card indices, music notation and manuscripts. The digitised collection grows by two or three million pages each year.
Collection built around 20 million pages of newspaper material
Newspapers have been comprehensively digitised for the periods from 1771 to the end of 1949 and from 2017 to the present year. In addition, the service includes other material sets digitised with separate funding, such as all Swedish-language newspapers published in Finland. Current efforts focus on the retroactive digitisation of newspapers from the 1950s.
Page views increase
Last year, digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi recorded 16.9 million page views, up slightly from 16.3 million in 2023. The service was accessed from all continents. The highest number of users accessing the service in Finland were from Helsinki, Tampere and Vantaa. Year after year, Helsingin Sanomat and Hufvudstadsbladet remain the most popular newspapers, while Suomen Kuvalehti tops the statistics for journals and magazines.
Journals, books, maps, music notation and recordings also available
While not as comprehensively digitised as newspapers, the most frequently accessed journals have been digitised until the end of 1944. The digitised book collection includes Finnish classics, old doctoral theses and literature from the period of Swedish rule. Introducing users to maps of the world is the collection of Ptolemy atlases, which features map publications from the advent of the printing press to the 18th century. Music notation can be, for example, printed for personal use. To safeguard fragile material, the National Library digitises sound recordings, with most of the digitised content available only in the library facilities.
Four-year programme guiding digitisation
The latest digitisation programme for 2025–2028 was published in January this year. It covers not only newspaper and journal digitisation, but also material from various National Library collections selected with a view to its utilisation rate, customer requests, research needs and sustainable development.
The National Library will make all public-domain material available to everyone. Copyrighted material can be used at legal deposit libraries.
Digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi(opens a new tab)
Use of legal deposit materials
National Library of Finland Digitisation Programme(opens a new tab)