Online materials
The National Collection preserves public online content that is either Finnish or intended for a Finnish audience.
Index
In addition to publications and recordings, the National Library harvests and preserves publicly available Finnish online materials. The preserved online materials are a representative and diverse sample of materials available to the public in information networks at various times. Approximately 20 terabytes of online content are preserved annually, with a total collection of over 300 TB.
The collected materials are stored in two different collections, namely, the Finnish Web Archive and the electronic deposit collection. According to the Act on Collecting and Preserving Cultural Materials (1433/2007) (available in Finnish and English), the right of ownership is transferred to the National Library, but the copyright of the material is retained by the original rights holders.
The National Library has been harvesting online content since 2006 when the Copyright Act (404/1961, section 16b) (available in Finnish and Swedish) authorised it to preserve material from information networks. The Act also stipulates that such material is to be made available on legal deposit workstations. The Act on Collecting and Preserving Cultural Materials (1433/2007) which regulates the preservation of Finnish publications, has obliged the National Library to preserve Finnish online materials since 2008.
In accordance with the Act on Collecting and Preserving Cultural Materials, the collection plan for online materials specifies the extent of harvesting and preserving content as well as the practices of releasing online resources. The collection plan also considers the needs of research and the archiving of cultural history as well as equal treatment of online publishers. The plan is reviewed at intervals of four years or less.
Metadata of the publications in the electronic legal deposit collection and themed harvests of the Web Archive are accessible through The National Library Search Service Finna.
The Finnish Web Archive
The Finnish Web Archive preserves content from websites and social media channels. Such material is collected through a variety of harvests, using automated systems whenever possible. Information on the types of materials, harvesting and preservation.
Electronic legal deposit collection
The electronic legal deposit collection comprises online publications such as books, magazines, maps and recordings in electronic format. Information on preserving and releasing electronic publications.
Digital preservation
The digital preservation and accessibility of the online materials preserved by the National Library are ensured in cooperation with CSC – IT Centre for Science OY. Information on digital preservation and its implementation.
Using online materials
Preserved online materials are available to the public on legal deposit workstations around Finland. The use of the materials is discussed in more detail on the Using legal deposit materials page.
Further information
Regarding online material that is problematic in terms of preservation, such as databases, online games and maps, the National Library follows international developments. The National Library strives to participate in national and international cooperation projects in the field.
The data protection of the material is discussed in the data protection statement for online materials preserved by the National Library (available in Finnish).