All Swedish-language newspapers published in Finland are now available digitally, as the National Library's digitization project has been completed.
The University of Helsinki reports that nearly 3.9 million pages were digitized in the project which ended on December 31st.
Now, almost six million pages of Swedish-language newspapers are available digitally through the National Library's digi.kansalliskirjasto.fi service. According to the National Library, Swedish-language papers account for 30 percent of all newspapers available on the service.
Searches can be made from digital content within newspaper contents and descriptive information.
According to Kimmo Tuominen, Chief Librarian at the National Library, comprehensive digitized collections can promote language science, machine learning and AI development by opening up new opportunities for Finnish researchers to develop language models.
"The availability of digitized newspapers revolutionizes research possibilities and deepens understanding of Finnish history and culture. We are grateful to our supporters and partners for making this part of Finland’s Swedish-speaking cultural heritage increasingly accessible," says Tuominen in a statement.
According to the National Library, this three-year-long project has been a public success, with five out of twenty most used papers being Swedish-language ones – Hufvudstadsbladet, Åbo Underrättelser, Finlands Allmänna Tidning, Vasabladet and Ålandstidningen.
Hufvudstadsbladet was also reported as being the most used newspaper on their digital service during both 2022 and 2023.
The digitization project had received €1.85 million in funding from eight Swedish-speaking foundations.
This article is part of the Tivi in English product development project that publishes translated Tivi articles in English. The Azure Open AI environment has been used in the translation of this article. You can find the original article at tivi.fi.
