Dear Madame, Dear Sir, I have a question about Finish library statistics. I found the website libraries.fi with a lot of information. I was wondering if there…

We have a public library statistics -database, http://tilastot.kirjastot.fi/en-GB/ but it does’nt include statistics about Internet access in libraries anymore. We had figures on our pages in the early 2000’s, but nowadays we do’nt give those figures anymore, because all public libraries have Internet access (this fact is stated ex.g. on the site of the Ministry of Education and Culture). We can somewhat safely conclude that atleast almost all if not all public libraries provide internet access and computers for their customers.

Ministry of Education and Culture
http://www.minedu.fi/OPM/Kirjastot/?lang=en

The question about WiFi-connections is more difficult. We do'nt have a listing made by libraries. On a service available in the Net searching for free WLAN/WiFi-spots (http://www.hotspots.fi/ search term kirjasto = library in Finnish), i found a list of 48 cities offering WiFi (with many libraries), but i suspect the true number is much higher. Wireless connections in libraries are stated in our Strategy for Public Libraries, and the number of libraries who offer this service increases day by day. One could make an inquiry about WiFi-connections through our discussion list, i'm sure that many libraries would answer, but of course not 100% of those who offer the service.

Council for Public Libraries, Strategy 2011-2016
http://www.kirjastot.fi/File/36093d68-aacf-4845-b7d9-c33a6055f5d5/Ykn-s…

We are working in Libraries.fi on a new library index, this new service will be launched next year and it will include information about wireless networks in libaries.