Borrowing

Items from the OUTI Library collections can be borrowed by any library member with a valid OUTI Library card. The loan period is usually four weeks.

Borrowed items can be returned to any OUTI Library, unless otherwise instructed when borrowing materials. Items such as sports equipment must be returned to the same library from which they were borrowed.

Return book drops are located in the Central Library Saari and the libraries of Haukipudas, Kiiminki and Oulunsalo. The return book drops are open when the library is closed. The return drop box in the Oulunsalo Library is open for use during the opening hours of Kapteeni Shopping Centre. Please note that loans returned to the book drops will not be registered as returned until the next opening day. This means that loans returned to the book drop on or after the due date may result to a late fee.

Reserving items from an OUTI Library is free of charge, but a fee of 2 € will be charged for any uncollected reservations. Holds to reserved materials can be placed in the OUTI Web Library and at the library customer service. You can pick up your reservations from the library of your choice.

A library card is personal and necessary for using the library services. In some cases you can also act on behalf of another person, for example when picking up a reservation or paying library fees. In these cases the library requires authorization.

When acting on behalf of another person in library, you must present the library card of the person on whose behalf you are doing business and the authorization at the library’s customer service. The authorization is valid only once. It must indicate a date and information on what matters the person is authorized to execute in the library. You must prove your identity if requested when presenting the authorization.

If you are picking up reservations on behalf of another person, a pick-up notification forwarded to you is a valid alternative to the authorization.

You can find an refillable model form for an authorization from the OUTI Web Library and the library customer service. If printing the form is not possible, you can also create a free-form authorization on your own.

Ask more about authorization from library customer service via email info.kirjasto@ouka.fi or by telephone 08 558 47337.

If a book or some other desired title is not in the collection of any of the OUTI Libraries, it can be ordered as an interlibrary loan (ILL) from another library. 

The digital OUTI library card works in the same way as a physical library card and can be used at library self-service stations, self-service library login devices and customer service.

The digital library card can be found in the Your Account menu of the web library under Library Cards.

When you open a digital library card by tapping on the library card of your choice in the Library Cards view, you can save it as an icon on your smartphone by selecting "Add to Home Screen" from the browser menu.