Kirjastohistorian saavutuksia

This review deals with library history research in Finland at the end of the 1990's. Library history has become a subject of intensive research after the 200th anniversary of Finnish public libraries celebrated in1994.The academic research has concentrated on public libraries. Dissertations have been written on subjects concerning the desire to read and the institutions of reading in the 18th and 19th centuries; the role of library inspectors in the development of library organisation in1921-1961;the literature removed from libraries in1944-1946because it was regarded hostile to the Soviet Union. Works concerning scientific libraries have been concise histories of various academic libraries written by their librarians. The research has brought much information on the development of Finnish libraries, their ideology, organisation and technology. But there is still research to be done: the development of librarianship as a profession, the expectations of customers and the political and social backgrounds of the libraries and librarians