At the Helsinki University Library, you can use self-service lending machines to borrow materials. You need a Helka card and PIN code to use the machine. The loan periods for books vary between different collections. Check the expiry date of your loan in your customer data in the Helka database.
You can renew your loans by logging in to the Helka database and accessing your information. Renewal will not succeed if there are reservations, or you have been banned from borrowing. If you return or renew your loans late, you will be charged a late fee.
You can return materials of the Helsinki University Library to the Kaisa House, Kumpula, Meilahti or Viikki. You can return any loaned materials by using the self-service machines. The campuses also have night return locations, where you can return materials evens outside the library’s opening hours. You cannot return materials from other Helka libraries (the Institute for the Languages of Finland, the Finnish Heritage Agency Library, the Finnish Literature Society, the Library of the Labour Movement, the Baltia-kirjasto) or the National Library to the Helsinki University Library.
How to reserve material and pick up reservations
How to make a reservation in Helka:
- Find the details of the material you want to reserve in Helka and log in.
- Open its availability information and make the reservation. The reservation button appears only for the material that can be reserved.
- Select the location from which you want to pick up the material. For each work, Helka will only display the options where the materials is available for pickup.
Course books can only be reserved when all copies are on loan. Pick up the course book from the location where it is included in the collection.
You can track when your reservation can be picked up in your Helka customer information. You will receive an e-mail notification when the material you have reserved is available for pickup. Use the information in the email notification of arrival to locate the book you have reserved on the reservation shelf. Reserved materials can only be borrowed using the card used the reservation was made with.
Read more:
–Borrowing material, renewing loans, late payments and loan ban (Helsinki University Library website)
–How to return loans and where are the night return locations (Helsinki University Library website)
–How to reserve books and pick up reservations (Helsinki University Library website)