Opportunity to enrich personal book collections at low cost

Rovaniemi City Library, the biggest public library in Lapland, offers an opportunity for booklovers to enrich their personal book collection at a minimum cost through auctions of old books.

The library authorities arrange auctions of old books three times a year where people can buy a book for one euro and a magazine for 20 cents only, library sources said.

“Every year we sell old books to create room for new books in the library, which also creates an opportunity for the readers to collect books and magazines at a minimum price,” Rovaniemi City Library Information Specialist Seija Ålander told the Daily Finland.

She said a total of 3,700 books were sold in three separate auctions held in February, July and September this year.

Ålander, however, said the number of new arrivals is much higher compared to the number of old books sold in auctions.

Founded in 1860, the City library has become a vibrant and busy place that helps thousands of people find all sorts of information.

On an average, the library is now serving about 1,000 readers a day in house services and more than a thousand people avail of its electronics services as well.

With its variety of collections, particularly specialised in northern aspects, the city library has turned into an ideal leisure place for readers as well as visitors in Rovaniemi.

The library has a collection of about 446,560 books including 370,323 hard copied, 40,024 CD, DVD and audio recording, 65 newspapers, and 818 magazines, said the library sources, adding that the library has 22,457 customers, which is 36.32 per cent of the total population of the city.

To create new readers, the City Library always emphasise on young adults and carry out a number of promotion programmes throughout the year including lectures and workshops. The “reading dog” programme of the library for the specially gifted children is a popular one.

In addition to the main library, there are four branch libraries at Muurola, Korkalovaara, Ounasvaara, and Saarenkylä. The library also has two book buses that fulfil the reading desire of people living in remote areas, Ålander added.