Library card and PIN code

In order to borrow anything, you always need a library card. You will receive a personal library card and PIN code from all Keski Libraries by presenting a photo ID and committing to follow the Library Rules. Your first library card is free of charge. Any library cards issued subsequently are subject to a charge.

You can use the same library card in every Keski Library. Card holders are responsible for all material borrowed on their library card. The guardian is responsible for material borrowed by a person under the age of 15. Card holders and guardians of under 15-year-old card holders commit to replace all damaged, lost or unreturned library material that was borrowed using their library card.

Under 15-year-old customers will need a guardian's written approval to obtain a library card. The guardian's personal information will be linked to the under 15-year-old person's customer information.

If you do not have a Keski Library Card, you can expedite obtaining the card by storing your information in advance in the library's customer register using this form: Library card application. After sending the application, you can pick up your library card from any Keski library tomorrow at the earliest.

If you cannot use the web form, you may print out this Library Card Form and fill it out in advance. In the Jyväskylä and Saarijärvi Libraries, you can use the backside of the same form to give approval for an under 15-year-old customer to use self-service libraries.

• Fill out and print: (Jyväskylä and Saarijärvi): Library Card Form and form for self-service libraries (pdf)
• Fill out and print: (others): Library Card Form (pdf)

If you lose your library card, please notify your library immediately. Once you have informed your library about your missing library card, your responsibility for potential loans borrowed using your missing card ends. You can get yourself a new library card from the library (remember to bring your photo ID with you). When a new library card is activated, the old card will become void. The charge for a new library card varies between libraries.

Keep your contact information up to date. If your contact information changes, please inform your library or update your contact information in the online Library. If you wish to change the name on your library card, you need to visit the library in person and present a valid photo ID.

Your PIN code is a 4-digit number that can be obtained from any Keski Library during service hours. Remember to bring your library card and a valid photo ID. You will need your PIN code in several situations, for example when:

• logging in to the online library
• borrowing material at a library's lending machine
• borrowing e-books and e-audiobooks
• reading e-newspapers, e-journals and e-magazines
• visiting self-service libraries
• borrowing a Hublet touchpad (Jyväskylä Main Library, Keljonkangas Library, Kuokkala Library, Laukaa Library)

If you forget your PIN code, you can obtain a new one at the library service desk by presenting your library card and a valid photo ID. If you cannot visit the library, please contact the library's phone or online chat service.

Mobile library card

The mobile card allows you to borrow with your mobile device (e.g. smartphone). The mobile card acts as a transaction tool at lending counters and machines, and in the login units of self-service libraries.

You can access your mobile card by logging in to Keski-Finna with a mobile device browser:

• Log in to the online library (keski.finna.fi) on your mobile device with your library card number and PIN code
• Select your account
• Select Library Cards from the list
• Your own library card appears in the card list as a library card number
• Any parallel cards added to the account will be displayed with the names assigned to them
• You can use any card on the list as a mobile card
  (The lending machine will ask for the PIN code of the selected card when borrowing)

Further information about the mobile card on How to use the online library page

Loans and renewals

The Keski Libraries' library card is valid in every Keski Library (within Central Finland). Loan periods and limitations can vary depending on the library (e.g. library mobiles). The due dates for borrowed items are shown on the receipt and your Checked Out Items section in the online library.

The most common loand periods vary from one to four weeks:

• 4 weeks: Books, recordings, sheet music, language courses
• 2 weeks: Journals, magazines, quick loans, physical objects, DVD and Blu-Ray discs
• 1 week: Week loans, season tickets

Loans must be returned during library opening hours on the due date at the latest, or they need to be renewed. You can return your loans to any Keski Library. There are overdue charges for books returned or renewed after the due date. Online renewals must take place before midnight on the due date. Loans can be renewed up to five times, if there are no reservations on them. Week loans or season tickets cannot be renewed.

Some Keski Libraries have drop boxes for returns. Returning material through a drop box is at your own risk. Loans returned through a drop box are registered as returned on the next open day.

When lending audiovisual material, Keski Libraries follow the age restrictions set by the Department for Media Education and Audiovisual Media. Library is not liable, if the borrowed recording damages the customer's media devices.

You will lose borrowing rights in all Keski Libraries, if you do not return your loans, avoid to pay your fees.

You can have a free-of-charge notification of an upcoming due date into your email 1–5 days before the material is due. This service is available if you provide your email address to your library or save it into your account information in the online library. The due date notification is an additional service, and if it fails / should it fail to reach you due to e.g. technical difficulties, you are still responsible to return or renew your loans before the due date. You are also responsible for your overdue fees.

Reservations

You can make reservations on material in the online library, by phone or when visiting the library. The reserved material will be transported to the library that you want. Making reservations is free of charge, but if you do not collect the reserved material until the last pickup date, you will be charged a fee of 2.00 EUR for uncollected reservations. When picking up your reservation, please remember to borrow it.

Normal reservations (Request from drop-down menu: Municipality) cover all the branch libraries of the selected municipality.

Regional reservations (Request from drop-down menu: Region) cover the material of all Keski Libraries and they will be transported to the pickup location that you want. You cannot place a regional reservation on secondary school coursebooks in some municipalities or physical objects that are difficult to transport, such as sports equipment. Transporting a regional reservation to the desired pickup location will take from a few days up to more than a week.

You can cancel your reservation in the online library, if it has not been yet processed and the item is not yet in transport or available for collection. If your reservation has already been processed and you wish to cancel it, you can do so by contacting the pickup library. If you collect your reservation but do not wish to borrow it, please return it to the library staff.

Pickup notices for reserved material

• You will receive a pickup notice from the library, when an item you have reserved is ready to be collected at the library. The last pickup date is stated on the notice.
• The pickup notice will be sent according to your liking via email, as an SMS message, or by post. You can find and change your notification settings in your Profile in the online library. Open the "Change Notification Settings" form and apply the changes you wish to make.

Fees

Fees and charges vary between municipalities. Up-to-date information on fees, dispatch of overdue reminders and compensation for damaged material can be found on the websites and brochures of each library.

In all Keski Libraries:

• A debt balance of 10.00 EUR will result in temporary suspension of borrowing rights
• During the annual debt clearance, you need to pay all the fees accumulated on your library account.

You will find the all the accumulated fees and the causes for them in the online library. You can pay up your fees in any Keski Library regardless of their origin.

Online payment

You can use the online library to pay your library fees. The minimum amount that can be paid online is 1.00 EUR. In order to pay fees online, you are required to have an email account linked to your personal information. The service is provided by Paytrail, a payment intermediary company from Jyväskylä, Finland.

Interlibrary loans

Interlibrary loans to Keski Libraries

If you require material unavailable in Keski Libraries, they can be requested from other libraries as an interlibrary loan. You can make interlibrary loan requests for material within Finland or, if necessary, abroad. Check your library's interlibrary loan regulations and service fees. Interlibrary loan requests cannot be cancelled. Only registered library customers are able to place interlibrary loan requests.

Every Keski Library has its interlibrary loan regulations and service fees.

An interlibrary loan costs the fee determined by the providing library and a potential service fee by the requesting library. When placing an interlibrary loan request, you commit yourself to pay all the fees caused by the interlibrary loan requests. The payment is collected when you pick up the requested loan. For an uncollected interlibrary loan, you must pay a fee in addition to all the expenses caused by the request. The same fees apply a cancelled request, if the loan has been dispatched from the providing library.

You should prepare yourself for a waiting period of approximately two weeks, but the delivery time might extend if, for example, if there are reservations on the requested material in the providing library. When the requested material arrives to the requesting library, the customer will be contacted by phone, email or regular post.

Interlibrary loans follow the regulations and loan periods of the providing library. All material is not necessarily available for an interlibrary loan, and sometimes they cannot be taken outside the library.

Please return your interlibrary loan to the library from which you picked it up. In order to renew your interlibrary loan, please contact your library's interlibrary service.

How to order from the Repository Library

Check the order price list (opens in a new tab) to see if your library charges for ordering material from the Repository Library.

• Log in to the online library.
• Do a search. If the material you want can’t be found in Keski Libraries’ collection, you can check if it is available in the Repository Library.
• Choose Repository Library (Kuopio) tab to see your search results in the repository library. Go to the holdings tab of the material you have chosen and order it by clicking Place the request under the heading Material provided by (on the right side column).
• Check the automatically filled in information in the order form that opens (material, i.e. the title to which the order relates, name, e-mail).
• Choose the pickup location and tell us when the material is needed at the latest if the order is urgent.
• Fill in the Message field with the information of the desired copy (article title, author, pages, journal number, vintage, etc.) or other information for the library.
• Click Send.
• You will get a notification of your order in Keski-Finna.

NOTE

The interlibrary service of the chosen pickup library can convert your request to a regular or regional hold if the material can be found in the Keski Libraries’ collection.

You will be notified when the material is available for pickup.

Interlibrary loans and requests will appear in your account on Keski-Finna after they have been processed in the library. Loans can be renewed in Jyväskylä via the Interlibrary Service (opens in a new tab). For other municipalities, you should read each library's own instructions. The requests cannot be cancelled on Keski-Finna online library.

Acquisition proposal

Make an acquisition proposal

We are glad to receive acquisition proposals, but unfortunately not all of them can be fulfilled. For example, only some films and e-books can be acquired to the library due to copyright reasons.

However, basically all the latest releases of major Finnish publishing companies are acquired, so you do not need to request them. The acquisition proposal process might take long, even months.

Before sending an acquisition proposal, it is advised to check if the libraries of school institutions, academies or universities have a copy of the material in question available in their collections.