Editorial: Welcome to the UAS Libraries in Finland!

Welcome to the UAS Libraries in Finland!

Letter from the editor in chief Minna Marjamaa, Laurea University of Applied Sciences
(minna.marjamaa@laurea.fi)

August is the most beautiful time of the year in Finland. During the IFLA Conference, you can make the most of it by participating in IFLA tours and visits. There will be a lot to see and experience in the late summer days and nights of Helsinki and the greater capital area – but there’s another side of Finland not to be neglected. Ours is a country of many libraries, and we actually have a great variety of them scattered across the landscape of thousands of lakes and islands. If you are interested in the day-to-day work of Finnish libraries and would like to witness them working in close cooperation with our students and academic staff, pay a visit to the Universities of Applied Sciences’ (UAS) libraries! Our doors are open to both local and foreign visitors, and we have prepared several interesting events demonstrating the latest efforts in our field.

Never heard of a UAS? The Finnish higher education system is based on a dual model of universities of applied sciences and universities, both of which have different kinds of profiles and missions. The universities of applied sciences are mainly multidisciplinary and regional institutions of higher education that focus on interacting with the labour market and regional development. They provide professionally oriented education with emphasis on both theory and practice, and offer programmes for Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees alike. 

UAS Libraries
The primary function of a UAS Library is to teach Information Literacy integrated into the Bachelor"s degree programmes and to support students in the thesis process. Many UAS librarians work together with students, research staff and company representatives in research projects, providing expertise in information retrieval and use. In addition, recent years have seen a growing interest in the field of user-centred design of services among librarians around the library network.

In this issue, we present the UAS Libraries selected this year as the IFLA Host Libraries, and in addition, some interesting developments in our field. 

Cover photos: Päivi Mäkisalo, AMKIT Consortium