The National Library of Finland (Kansalliskirjasto) has announced that two of its online databases are now freely available to the general public.

The resources in question, which are available to all internet users in Finnish, Swedish and English, are LINDA, which is the unified catalogue of Finnish University Libraries, and ARTO, a reference database of articles published in Finland.

In addition to the article collections, maps, archives, and other electronic resources of all Finnish university libraries, LINDA also covers the National Repository Library (Varastokirjasto), the Library of Parliament (eduskunnan kirjasto), the Library of Statistics (Tilastokirjasto), and Lahti Science Library (Lahden tiedekirjasto).

ARTO contains references to articles in scholarly (i.e., peer-reviewed) journals and some other journals published in Finland. ARTO most comprehensively covers articles that have been published since 1990, but also provides many references to older materials. Articles from around 600 periodicals are registered in ARTO, and some chapters published in monographs are also included in the database.

Before 1 January 2010, the two databases were freely available only in third-level educational institutions and in the larger libraries, and access from all other locations required the purchase of a user licence.

Open access for all has been made possible through funding provided to the National Library of Finland by the Ministry of Education. Negotiations are underway to secure long-term funding to continue the service after 2010.

HT