Finland

Country Profile

The Country profile is a sort of Library Manifesto on sustainable development at national or local level, it illustrates the nature and the level of effort deployed by library associations and their partners in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in libraries.

Download the Country profile - PDF version with link references and contact information.
(Excerpt from the 2nd European Report on Sustainable Development and Libraries, prepared by EBLIDA and National Library of Latvia.)

General background and who’s who

Finnish libraries are well aware of the importance of SDGs and library operations have been, or are being adapted to the Agenda 2030 on sustainable development; in many libraries sustainable development is a core library concept and SDGs are implemented in a convincing and active way; nevertheless, activities are still lagging behind in some of them. This successful policy started when libraries were incorporated in the National Voluntary Review 2020.

In the Helsinki own voluntary report libraries were mentioned first, as institutions supporting literacy within the country. The second time was in the Secure Box, in the list of activities in education and training that should be continued, since they function well (p. 146). Research and development expenditure has picked up after a hiatus, while sustainable development is being taken more and more effectively into account at schools and nursery schools. However, while reading literacy has traditionally been strong among young Finns, it is now declining. Learning differences between girls and boys are among the largest of all OECD countries. Men also acquire less education than women” (p. 145).

 

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