The Jyväskylä University Library is one of the oldest libraries in Finland, dating back to the 1860s. Jyväskylä is the largest city in Central Finland and the Finnish lake district. Elias Lönnrot, the Finnish physician, philologist and collector of traditional Finnish oral poetry who put together the Finnish national epic Kalevala (1835) from short poems, called Jyväskylä the Athens of Finland. This meant that even in the 1800s, Jyväskylä was considered a center for education, as Athens was for the ancient Greeks. Founded in the 1860s, the University of Jyväskylä was the first Finnish-speaking college for training teachers. It currently has an enrolment of about 15,000 students. When adult education students are added, the total number of students rises to 40,000. It ranks as the second largest university of Finland in terms of the number of master’s degrees awarded each year. It has noted departments of natural, health, and social sciences, as well as sports. Among its active partnerships in international cooperation in education are a number of universities in Asia. They include the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand; Ton Duc Thang University in Vietnam; and the National Institute of Education of the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. It also has cooperation agreements with several universities in Taiwan, India, Japan, South Korea, and China.

Outstanding architecture

The University of Jyväskylä is fortunate to have many buildings designed in the 1950s by the eminent Finnish architect Alvar Aalto. A city planner and furniture designer as well as architect, Aalto (1898-1976) was an influential modernist creator. The TU Libraries own a number of books about his works. Since the standard for architecture at The University of Jyväskylä was set so high, in the 1970s when it was decided to have a new campus designed, the challenge was considerable. A competition was won by the Finnish architect Arto Sipinen (born 1936). Sipinen had previously worked in the office of Alvar Aalto as well as that of Viljo Revell, another well-known Finnish architect. A former instructor at the Helsinki University of Technology Department of Architecture, now part of Aalto University, Sipinen’s new main library (1974) for the University of Jyväskylä won special praise. A youthful, spare work in red brick, Sipinen’s library was seen as influenced by the example of Aalto in its lack of showiness and connection to the surrounding area.

An illustrious history

The Jyväskylä University Library was first established in the 1860s by Uno Cygnaeus, the first director of the Finnish Teacher College. Uno Cygnaeus was a Finnish educator and chief inspector of the nation’s school system. He is termed the father of the Finnish public school system. Cygnaeus was convinced of the importance of educating women and also promoted teaching handicrafts in schools. Martti Airila, a Finnish linguist and assistant professor at the University of Helsinki was the founder and first director of the Jyväskylä Research Library in 1912. The first full-time library director was Walter Appelqvist, a Finnish librarian and literary researcher. In 2013, Ari Muhonen was named director of the University of Jyväskylä Library. As he pointed out when he was named to the post, Dr. Muhonen was

looking forward to a great university and a great library, and this is my return to my roots; my family is from Kannonkoski, north of Jyväskylä.

According to Dr. Muhonen, the library’s mission is to help its clients get work done by providing adequate sources of information for research, teaching and learning. In addition to its own printed and electronic collections, timely availability of information may be secured by networking with other providers. He added:

A quality library is a great competitive advantage for the University.

Starting in January, Dr. Muhonen was also named director of the Open Science Centre at the University of Jyväskylä, a fusion of the Jyväskylä University Library and the Jyväskylä University Museum. Today, the The Jyväskylä University Library serves over 2000 visitors daily and more than half a million yearly with collections exceeding 1.8 million volumes. Readers also have access to Finnish and foreign databases, over 30 000 electronic journals, and about 360,000 ebooks. Among the most precious possessions of the library include the first book ever printed in Finland. Dating  from the 1400s, the Missale Aboense is a prayer book used for celebrating Mass in the Catholic Church. The Missale Aboense is particularly admired for the beauty of its typography.

Thailand and Finland

As the website of the Embassy of Finland in the Kingdom of Thailand points out, a permanent mission established in Thailand in 1980 became the Finnish Embassy in 1986. Such organizations as Finpro Thailand and the Thai-Finnish Chamber of Commerce (TFCC) encourage mutual business interaction between Finland and the Kingdom. About 150,000 Finns visit Thailand annually and approximately 1,000 Finns live in Thailand for all or most of the year. Among many examples of interaction between the two nations, an association of Finns in Bangkok or Krungthepin Suomalaiset founded in 2004, unites Finns living in Bangkok and helps preserve Finnish language and culture in the Kingdom. The association has its own library, available to members. The Finnish Thai Association is another such group. Twenty years ago, a Finnish supplementary school was established in Bangkok for children who speak Finnish at home. Finnish school Bansku offers classes once weekly after usual school hours. There is also a Finnish School in Pattaya, opened in 2010. The Bangkok Patana School, a British International School located in the Bang Na District of Bangkok, also offers a Finnish Language School. All of these interactions support the fact that as the Finnish Embassy website explains:

Today, Thailand is not only Finland’s third biggest destination of export products in Asia, but also an excellent partner of cooperation for the EU in a number of regional and global issues.

Last year, Her Excellency Satu Suikkari-Kleven was named Finnish Ambassador to the Kingdom of Thailand. In October, Ambassador Suikkari-Kleven visited the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), noting:

We had an excellent tradition of cooperation between Finland and AIT, and we are now looking at innovative ideas for renewed cooperation.

In September, Finland participated in a local commemoration of Clean Up the World Weekend. Representatives from businesses, foreign missions, students and volunteers gathered for a clean-up effort on and along the Chao Phraya River. As the Scandasia website pointed out, an increasing problem with plastic pollutants

connects strongly to Thailand, as one of the top contributors to the waste in the oceans… visit any Thai beach in monsoon season and a huge amount of garbage usually “decorates” the shoreline. Standing at any of the piers along Chao Phraya River in Bangkok and looking down at the brown water a steady stream of floating objects, mainly energy drinks bottles, polystyrene and various other plastics are floating by on its way towards the Gulf of Siam. How much garbage would be caught in say 24 hours if one were to stretch a net in the water across this river? No one has done that but the catch from the Clean Up Bangkok River At Chao Phraya River action in September gives an idea: 2000+ plastic bags, 700+ plastic bottles, 600+ plastic cups/cartons, 900+ glass bottles, 1300+ styrofoam, 150+ clothing-related, 1500+ small plastic pieces–in total 132 kg of solid waste–were collected from the river and nearby streets in just one hour by around 400 participants (conducted along a 6km stretch of the river).

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)