Welcome to the Library

Library card

How to get a library card

Turku University Library is an academic library open to everyone - welcome to the library! A library card is needed to borrow printed material. In addition to your library card you will need a PIN code when borrowing on the self-check machines.   

Students and staff at the University of Turku  

You can get a library card by using Tuudo mobile app. Download Tuudo app free of charge from the app store and log in with UTU-user ID. You can find your library card in the Library section in Tuudo.  

If your library card does not appear automatically, add the card according to the instructions in Tuudo application. Read more about the use of Library Services in Tuudo (pdf).  

If you wish, you will receive a plastic library card from the library during the customer service hours. 

Set the PIN code needed for self-check machines in the Volter database. Log in to Volter with your UTU user ID and enter the PIN at the My account page. 

Tuudo library card is available during your studies or employment. You are welcome to continue using the library after you have graduated or stopped working at University of Turku, but get a plastic library card to replace the library card in Tuudo. 

Other customers 

A library card can be obtained free of charge from any of the library units by providing an identity card and an address in Finland. You can order a library card beforehand with the library card application form. 

A barcoded library card from any Finnish university library or a student card from any other Finnish university can also be used, it just needs to be activated in the library before use. 

>> Library card application 

Using the library card 

A library card is personal. You, as the card holder, are responsible for all material borrowed with the card and must agree to comply with the rules and regulations of the library. 

If you lose your library card, please inform us as soon as possible at library@utu.fi

Volter password and PIN code

Signing into the Volter database

  • Turku University students and personnel sign in with an utu user-ID and password
  • other patrons sign in with their library card number and Volter password which can be set and reset at the sign in

PIN code for self-check machines

For self-check machines you need a four-digit PIN code. You must set and reset the PIN code yourself at the 'My account' page in the Volter database.

Change of address

Turku University students and personnel

Addresses of Turku University students and personnel will update automatically from the university databank to library's database.

Turku University student

Turku University personnel

Other patrons

  • Sign in to Volter database with your library card number and password.
  • Change your address on Personal details tab.
Electronic library card for Turku University students and personnel

Electronic library card is an electronic version of your physical card and you can use it on the self-check machines to check out printed materials. When visiting customer service, you need a physical library card or Tuudo library card with Tuudo student card or identity card for personal identification reasons. 

Library card in Tuudo 

You can find an electronic library card and other library services in the Tuudo mobile app. 

Download Tuudo from the appstore. Find the University of Turku from the universities list in the app and sign in with your UTU-user ID. Select Library and get a library card. With Tuudo you can  

  • borrow materials and renew loans 
  • keep track on your due dates, reservations and fees 
  • check the library’s opening hours and follow the library’s news. 

Set the PIN code needed for self-check machines in the Volter database. Log in to Volter with your UTU user ID and enter the PIN at the My account page > Personal details and settings > Change password/PIN. 

Library card in Volter 

You can also find an electronic library card in Volter. The use of a library card in Volter requires that you have obtained either a plastic library card or have a library card in Tuudo. 

How to find a library card in Volter 

  • Sign in to Volter “I have a UTU account” 
  • Click My account > personal details 
  • Click your library card number after text “Library card as an image for the self check machine” 
  • Barcode will open in the browser and the electronic library card is ready to use. 
  • Tip: You can save a library card as a shortcut or as a screenshot on your phone. 

Set the PIN code needed for self-check machines in the Volter database. Log in to Volter with your UTU user ID and enter the PIN at the My account page > Personal details and settings > Change password/PIN. 

Borrowing and use of the library resources

Loan periods

Loan periods vary by library and resources.

You can see the due date for your loans on the due date receipt, by logging in to Volter, or for Turku university students and staff, using a Tuudo application. Loans are due on the due date when their owning library closes. Please return your loans to the return machine or customer service during their opening hours, as the return boxes are only emptied once a day in the mornings on the library unit's open days.

The most common loan periods

  • course books 14 days
  • books 28 days
  • journals 14 days
  • If you are print disabled, you are entitled to an extended loan period on 14-day course book loans

Coursebook overnight and weekend loans

  • can be borrowed three hours before library's closing time
  • must be returned by 10 am next weekday to the library from where it was borrowed (by 11 am in Teacher Education Library in Rauma)
  • overnight and weekend coursebook loans can be borrowed during the day for three hours
  • no renewals

Information on loan periods of laptops and calculators can be found on Library premises and devices page.

Loans

Turku University Library is an academic library open to everyone. Read more about obtaining a library card under How to get a library card.

Almost all of the material that is available on the shelves of the Turku University Library can be loaned out of the library. Exceptions to these are e.g. theses, microfilms, handbooks, some dictionaries and current year's journals. You can use them in the library premises or copy, scan and photograph them to use later.

There are some restrictions in borrowing from the legal deposit collection stored in the library’s closed collections. Fiction, valuable historical books, school textbooks, magazines, or ephemera (ads, posters, calendars, sheet music, etc.) cannot be loaned out of the library. However, you can use and copy, scan and photograph them in the library premises. Please note that there may be restrictions in copying old and valuable books, though taking photos of the pages is allowed.

If an item is a textbook at a university course, the copy in the legal deposit collection cannot be borrowed. Of course, copies of these textbooks are added into the course book collection where you can borrow them.

Renewal

You can renew your loans yourself in Volter database or in Tuudo mobile app (Turku University students and staff) or by contacting the library.

The renewal of the loan is not possible, if

  • maximum loan period has been reached
  • the book has been reserved
  • your borrowing rights have been suspended
  • it is an overnight or weekend loan.

Please note that technical malfunctions or service breaks do not free you from overdue fees.

 

Returns

Return your loans 

  • to any Turku University Library unit located in Turku except for course book overnight and weekend loans which must be returned to the library in question.
  • by post (on sender’s responsibility) to the library
  • Loans taken from Rauma and Pori libraries should be returned to the library where they were loaned from
The overdue fees always accumulate after the owning library of the item has closed on the due date. When you return your loans to the return boxes, the books will be registered as returned on the next opening day of the library. If the library material is not returned or renewed within 28 days of the due date, the customer’s borrowing rights will be suspended. The borrowing rights will be restored after the loans are returned and/or overdue fees are paid.
Notifications

Library loans are your responsibility but we will notify you by email of the approaching due date of your loans and of loans that are already overdue.

Remember to check the due dates of your loans in the Volter database.

Overdue fees must be paid even if the emails and letters do not reach you due to an incorrect address or, for example, email failures.

Overdue loans

You can see the last return date of your loans from your own information in the Volter database. Loans must be returned on the due date before the closing of the library, which the borrowed material belongs to. If you return your loans to the return box outside the library, the loans will be registered as returned on the next opening day of the library. If the library material is not returned or renewed within 28 days of the due date, your borrowing rights will be suspended.


The overdue fees always start accumulating after the owning library of the loan has closed on the due date and the loans have not been returned. Overdue fees accumulate according to the library's pricelist. If you have over 10 euros of unpaid fees, your borrowing rights will be suspended. The suspension of borrowing rights is in effect in all library units of the University of Turku and the automatic loan renewal is also suspended. The borrowing rights will be restored after the loans are returned and/or overdue fees are paid.

Fees and online payments

Fees

Overdue fees accumulate according to the library's pricelist. If you have over 10 euros of unpaid fees, your borrowing rights will be suspended. A suspension of borrowing rights is in effect in all library units of the University of Turku.

Suspension of borrowing rights also occurs when

  • a loan is 28 days overdue
  • a coursebook is 14 days overdue
  • an overnight and weekend loan item is overdue

Borrowing rights will be restored after the loans are returned and/or overdue fees are paid

Accrued fees can be paid

  • with a debit card and most common credit cards (Feeniks Library, Educarium Library, Teutori Library, the Turku School of Economics Library and Library of Cultural Production and Landscape Studies in Pori)
  • in Rauma Teacher Education Library you can pay with cash or credit/debit card

The library charges a fee for lost or damaged items and for sending an invoice. If a customer has already compensated an item, the library is not obligated to recompense, if the customer returns the item later.

Online payment

Online payment is available at My Account in Volter with all Finnish online bank services, Visa and MasterCard. When online, you can only pay the full amount and the minimum amount to pay is 1 €.

The fees can only be paid if the loans with fees have been returned or renewed. If you can’t renew your loans, contact the library by e-mail: library@utu.fi.

Paytrail Plc (2122839-7) acts as a collecting payment service provider and is an authorized Payment Institution. Paytrail Plc will be shown as the recipient on your bank or credit card statement. Paytrail Plc will forward the payment to the library.

Paytrail Plc
Innova 2
Lutakonaukio 7
40100 Jyväskylä
Phone: +358 207 181 830
Business ID 2122839-7

www.paytrail.com

Using e-resources

The electronic resources are available in the network of Turku University or through remote access. Remote access requires UTU user-ID and password. A library card is not needed to access e-resources.

  • Open University students, please instructions at Registration and Student Services at the Open University page
  • Walk-in access allows all library customers to use most of the e-resources of the Turku University Library during service hours.  Access to these electronic resources is available via dedicated computers where you can use, print and/or save e-resources of the library without logging in. The walk-in access is provided by most of the Finnish academic libraries.
  • Guides about electronic resources
Invoicing

The library sends customers overdue notices. If the customer does not react to the notices, the library will send a postal letter notifying the customer that the loans will be transferred to invoicing. If the customer has not returned the loans within two weeks of the transfer notification, the loans will be transferred to invoicing.

If a customer returns the loans after invoicing, the library will refund 80% of the compensation payment of the loans. The customer is obliged to pay the overdue and processing fees.

If a customer, after already making a compensation payment for unreturned loans, returns the loans, the library is not obliged to compensate the payments.

The collection of the unpaid invoice is transferred to the debt collection agency.

Borrowing between the campuses (Turku, Rauma, Pori)

In addition to the libraries located on the Turku campus, the Volter database also contains material from the Library of the Teacher Education Institute in Rauma, as well as from the Pori University Library's Library on Cultural Production and Landscape Research and the School of Economics in Pori.

Customers can borrow materials from campuses through the library's interlibrary services. Fill out the interlibrary loan request form online or contact us kaukopalvelu@utu.fi. The service is free of charge.
 
Availability

Availability and accessibility are an important part of the services of Turku University Library

  • Print-disabled students have the right to an extended loan period for course books (14-day loans). The first loan period of the course book is 3 weeks.
  • Book-fetching services are available if you have a physical disability. You can request books to be delivered to a library of your choice.
  • 24/7 electronic resources.
  • Free Celia service for print-disabled students.

Find out more on library's Availability and Accessibility pages.

Using the library after graduation

The Turku University Library is an academic library open to everyone, the materials of which you can use and borrow even after your graduation!

It's a good idea to update your contact information to a non-university email address before your UTU account closes, so you can continue receiving library notifications without interruption.

Once your utu UTU user-ID stops working, you will no longer be able to log in to Volter or make use of electronic materials remotely, for example, on your home computer. However, you can still use almost all electronic materials in the library premises using the library's customer computers.

Bring an identity card and visit the library to update your information. You'll be able to log in to Volter to renew your loans, book, and borrow materials. After the UTU user ID is closed, the library card number and password will be used for logging in to Volter.

If you have enabled the Tuudo app during your studies, we will issue you a plastic library card to replace the Tuudo card.

The library's falicilities are still available to you. You can also continue to make room reservations on Asio after registering as an Asio user (see Asio instructions).

Reservations and requests

Reservations

All library items can be reserved in the same way whether they are on loan, in a closed collection or on the library shelf except for course books, which can only be reserved when they are on loan. Reservations are free of charge.

To reserve an item, log in to Volter-database

  • Turku University students and personnel: log in with utu user-ID and password
  • other patrons: log in with library card number and Volter password, which can be set and rest at the log in.

You will receive an email notice when your reservation is ready for pick up from the library the book belongs to. Turku University students and personnel can keep track of reservations also with the help of Tuudo application. The collecting period for course books is 3 working days, for other books 5 working days. Reserved items must be collected at the library where they were reserved from. They will not be transferred to another library.

Reservations from closed collections are collected daily on weekdays and they are available next weekday after your request at 12 o´clock. Reservations from Feeniks Library's remote stacks are collected on Thursdays.

Reservations are on self-service shelves according to your request ID which begins with your initials. Your request ID remains the same for all your reservations and it can only be found on the pick up notice letter, not at My Account in Volter or Tuudo application.

However, if you need to reserve a book from another campus (Rauma, Pori, Turku) you need to contact Interlibrary Services kaukopalvelu@utu.fi. This service is free of charge.

Instructions to reserve libraries' group study rooms and devices

Storage requests for newspapers and ephemera materials

Newspapers and ephemera materials are located at Turku University Library’s Newspaper and Ephemera Services in Raisio. The resources can be accessed by making a storage request.

Please send Ephemera request by email library@utu.fi

The requested item is available the following working day at 10 am. Requested items are kept reserved for one week.

Please note that the requested material is only available at the Newspaper and Ephemera Services in Raisio, not in any other library unit of the Turku University Library.

Article requests from the National Repository Library

Article requests from the National Repository Library in Kuopio are ordered through our Interlibrary Services at the Feeniks Library. Article copies from NRL are free, please check the price of other services from the library pricelist.

Article Requests from the National Repository Library Will Be Forwarded Only in Paper Format from 1 September 2021.

You can use the Interlibrary services request form to make an article request.

You can also contact us via email at kaukopalvelu@utu.fi.

Interlibrary Services

Interlibrary services for customers

Interlibrary services provides customers books and articles from other libraries. If you want to order an interlibrary loan from Turku University Library´s collections please contact the library nearest to you. 

Do you need a book or an article that cannot be found from the Turku University Library’s collections? We can request it for you from somewhere else! Service is charged according to library's pricelist of services.

Interlibrary loan request is binding. The customer is responsible for all costs of loan request even if the loan is not collected. Interlibrary loans can be renewed if there are no reservations.

To make a request fill in

A student of Turku University: If you're unable to borrow printed materials from Turku University Library, you can place an interlibrary loan request at your local library and access the materials wherever you are. Ask your local library to include the note "Customer is a student of Turku University" in the order. This way, you can request interlibrary loans for course books sent exclusively to Turku University students if needed. Interlibrary loans between Turku University campuses are free for Turku University students and staff. For other interlibrary loans, the requesting library determines the interlibrary loan cost.

Interlibrary services are located in Feeniks Library.

Postal address:
Turku University Library / Interlibrary services
FI-20014 UNIVERSITY OF TURKU
FINLAND

For more information, please contact kaukopalvelu@utu.fi.

Restrictions on interlibrary loans ordered from the University of Turku Library

  • The loans can be renewed up to 10 times.
  • Some of the publications such as Fennica collection sent as interlibrary loans can only be used in a reading room.
  • Course books are sent as interlibrary loans only for students of University of Turku.
  • Theses (master’s theses etc.) sent as interlibrary loans are for reading room use only.
  • Theses (master’s theses etc.) are not supplied abroad.
  • Copies of electronic material can be sent if the licence conditions allow it.
  • Journals: the Fennica collection lends journals for reading room use depending on their condition and the date of publication.
  • Newspapers are not available for interlibrary loans.

Pricelist of services

Interlibrary services for libraries

Request form for libraries

​Based on the Rector’s decision the University of Turku has introduced an invoice fee of 15€ (alv 0%) for small sales. The amount of the additional fee depends on the expences caused by invoicing and it will be revised annually. The small invoice fee is added to invoices under 100 e (without taxes). The interlibrary services of the Turku University Library invoices customers biannually/annually.

Interlibrary services are located in Feeniks Library.

Postal address:
Turku University Library / Interlibrary services
FI-20014 UNIVERSITY OF TURKU
FINLAND

Restrictions on interlibrary loans ordered from the University of Turku Library

  • The loans can be renewed up to 10 times.
  • Some of the publications such as Fennica collection sent as interlibrary loans can only be used in a reading room.
  • Course books are sent as interlibrary loans only for students of University of Turku.
  • Theses (master’s theses etc.) sent as interlibrary loans are for reading room use only.
  • Theses (master’s theses etc.) are not supplied abroad.
  • Copies of electronic material can be sent if the licence conditions allow it.
  • Journals: the Fennica collection lends journals for reading room use depending on their condition and the date of publication.
  • Newspapers are not available for interlibrary loans.

Requests

E-invoicing of Turku University Library

  • OVT-tunnus: 003702458963
  • Y-tunnus: 0245896-3
  • e-invoicing operator: OpusCapita Group Oy
  • operator brokerage code: 003710948874
  • If you are not able to submit e-invoices, you will be asked to submit the invoices to: University of Turku, PO Box 7245, 01051 LASKUT.
  • for invoice reference: library / long distance service
  • copies of the interlibrary requests in question

Pricelist of interlibrary services

Other libraries and Open Access resources

Libraries in Turku area

There are many libraries in Turku, so the material you are looking for can be found surprisingly close. The use of electronic materials is often possible as a walk-in customer. Check the availability of each library's own database:

Åbo Akademi University Library database

Turku University of Appied Sciences database

Turku City Library database

Migration institute

Turun normaalikoulu

Open Access resources

Many organizations have repositories where publications are openly available to anyone. Learn about the different ways to find parallel publishing and freely accessible open access articles in the Open Access Guide:

How to Find Open Access Resources Guide