Research cooperation

Our objective is to improve the prerequisites of cultural and social research through cooperation, make our materials and services widely available for research, and develop the services needed for research by interacting with the scientific community.

Index

Research cooperation

We participate in research projects that promote the availability and usability of our materials as well as improve the quality of our materials with, for example, new types of content data or by utilising applications based on artificial intelligence.   

We are developing our material services to support, in particular, the working methods of digital human sciences and the open sharing of researchers’ tools. Project proposals submitted to us are reviewed by a comprehensive team of specialists who assess the potential for cooperation in relation to the library’s resources and strategy.   

Please note that the National Library of Finland’s Digitisation Programme for 2021–2024 controls the materials digitised during the four-year period. If you want to combine your research project with material presented for digitisation within the Digitisation Programme, please contact us with the contact form.

Forms of research cooperation

The National Library of Finland can participate in research cooperation in various roles:   

As a partner  

  • Partnership means applying for project funding together with researchers. The National Library of Finland may participate in the research project as the main or co-implementer, a member of a consortium, or any other partnership required by the funding. In partnership projects, the research can lead to by-products, such as the enrichment of the National Library of Finland’s materials or artificial intelligence applications that support the use of the materials.  
  • Partnership projects include long-term development work that benefits all parties participating in the project. Cooperating with research projects may also include the targeted acquisition of research materials and literature, the development of methods and tools, and support for managing and preserving research materials. The library can submit a letter of commitment and/or a commitment to cooperate in support of the project. 

As a provider of material  

  • The National Library of Finland can commit to provide the research project with the possibility to use materials in a manner that differs from the basic services. The materials can be analogue, digital, or data.   

Application process

Are you interested in cooperating with the National Library of Finland? We can provide you with analogue source materials, digital data, and extensive knowledge of our materials — not to mention the artificial intelligence development of digital materials or other tools developed for the processing of materials.  

Use this form to describe your cooperation project.

What to do: 

  • Try to describe your cooperation idea as accurately as possible. This will speed up the processing.  
  • Get in touch as soon as possible, especially in joint partnership projects, as it can take months to process and negotiate all of the details.  When you contact us, take into account the schedules of the funding application and the funders.   
  • After submitting an initiative on research cooperation, we will try to assess as soon as possible what kind of cooperation would be the most useful and how long it will take to process the matter.  
  • We will evaluate the research cooperation in relation to our strategy, the current digitisation programme, and ongoing development projects. The research cooperation will be evaluated by a wide range of specialists, including specialists in materials and collections, metadata and description, technical development and artificial intelligence, as well as research implementation, depending on the content of the collaboration. 
  • Negotiations regarding the details of the research cooperation will continue with the researcher / research team as necessary. The duration of the negotiations depends on the nature and scope of the cooperation.    
  • Participating in a research project as a partner must be approved by the National Library of Finland before the research funding application is submitted. When you send a funding application to a funder, also send a copy to the National Library of Finland.
  • Any inquiries can be sent to the National Library of Finland’s research services at kk-tutkijapalvelut@helsinki.fi.

Ongoing and previous cooperation projects

Read more about our previous cooperation projects on the Projects page