Slavonic Library, Helsinki
The collection that received a legal deposit copy of everything printed in the empire from 1828, Ukrainian titles included.
The Slavonic Library is a department of the National Library of Finland in Helsinki. Its core is the legal deposit collection of 1828–1917: Helsinki received copies of everything printed within the russian empire, so the Finnish holdings survived what censorship destroyed in the empire itself. There are 450 Ukrainian editions from before 1917 — few precisely because bans on printing in Ukrainian were in force, formally lifted only in 1905. During the Soviet period the library gathered about 3,500 books and 130 periodicals in Ukrainian, including emigre ones. The collection is still growing: among the donors is the Society of Ukrainians in Finland.
Unioninkatu 36, Helsinki, the National Library of Finland building. Since 01.09.2025 the library has been open Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri from 9:00 to 18:00 and Wed from 9:00 to 20:00; the Slavonic Library's information desk is open Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri 10:00–17:00, Wed 10:00–20:00 (University of Helsinki, 10.09.2025). Part of the holdings is issued only in the reading rooms or by advance order from the stacks, and part can be borrowed (National Library website).