Central Library Oodi is part of the Helsinki region’s Helmet network of public libraries. As such, the library card accepted at Oodi is the Helmet library card. Material borrowed from Oodi can be returned to any Helmet library.

You are welcome to give feedback and suggest improvements.

Give us feedback

Information on guided tours of Oodi is available on the Tours page.

Read more about tours

Facilities in Oodi can be booked through Varaamo.

Go to Varaamo

Most of the facilities can be booked for free. However, a fee may be charged for reserving the larger event venues, such as the cinema and the multi-purpose hall.

Price list for Oodi’s rental premises

Yes, you can. Oodi serves as an activity and performance platform for the residents of Helsinki. You can organise events open to everyone, workshops or even cooking classes at Oodi.

Read more about organising an event at Oodi

Oodi can be used as a venue for displaying digital art. If you are interested in showcasing your digital artworks at Oodi, please send a message to oodi.tilat@hel.fi. Oodi does not have any wall surfaces or showcases suitable for displaying physical works of art.

Catering at Oodi is handled by Food & Co.

Visit the website of Oodi’s restaurants

Oodi is a public space in which customers can hold small-scale photo shoots during the library’s opening hours. Please notify us of your photo shoot plans in advance: oodi.tilat@hel.fi

When planning a photo shoot, please take the following into consideration:

All photo shoots must be carried out so that no customer facilities, passageways, staircases, guides for the visually impaired or services are made unavailable due to the shoot. The photo shoot must also not disturb other customers or the staff in any way. It is polite to ask for permission to take pictures if there are people in the background. We would prefer that no photo shoots are carried out at the north end of the third floor (children’s section). If a photo shoot requires any customer facilities to be made unavailable, the shoot must be carried out outside opening hours.

Oodi can be used for photo shoots outside its opening hours for a fee in accordance with the price list. To request more information: oodi.tilat@hel.fi

Yes, they are.

The following are allowed:

• Eating your own small snacks on all floors
• Dining in Oodi’s restaurant and café
• Purchasing beverages or food from Oodi’s café and enjoying them elsewhere in the premises
• Ordering catering services from Food & Co. to the facilities of Oodi

The following are not allowed:

• Eating snacks or food near computers and machines
• Eating strong-smelling foods in the public spaces
• Eating in the movie theater Kino Regina
• Eating your own snacks or foods in Oodi’s café or restaurant
• Ordering catering services to Oodi from a service provider other than Food & Co.
• Drinking alcoholic beverages outside of designated areas in Oodi’s café and restaurant

You can enquire about any lost items at the information desk located on the first floor of Oodi or by telephone at +358 (0)9 310 85000. Lost items are kept at Oodi for two weeks, after which they are delivered to Suomen löytötavarapiste (Lost Property Office), located in the Kamppi Shopping Centre.

Website of the lost property office (in Finnish)

Oodi is accessible to prams. There is a pram-free area in Children’s World on the third floor next to a parking area for prams. During major children’s events, there is also a temporary pram parking area on the ground floor. During other major public events, access to Oodi with a pram may have to be restricted due to security reasons.

Particular attention was paid to accessibility when designing Oodi. All our facilities are accessible.

Read more about Oodi's accessibility

There are disabled parking spaces by Oodi’s southern entrance, between Oodi and Sanoma House.

Go to the page about arriving at Oodi, where you can find more information on parking

The only pets allowed at Oodi are guide dogs . Helsinki City Library has ruled that some of Helsinki’s public libraries are open to dogs and other pets, while others only allow guide dogs. Of the public libraries in the city centre area, the Rikhardinkatu Library welcomes dogs. Dogs are also allowed on the ground floor of Kallio Library.

Yes, Oodi has one wheelchair that is available for necessary use during the library visit. You can borrow the wheelchair at the information desk on the first floor, and return it to the same location.

Oodi has a collection of 100,000 books, magazines, newspapers, sheet music, films and games. Oodi’s collection includes books in 20 different languages and material aimed at children, young people and adults alike. Oodi is one of the Helsinki region’s Helmet libraries, which provide customers with access to nearly 3.5 million individual works.

Oodi is not equipped to process donated books to make them available to borrow, as a result of which book donations are currently not accepted at Oodi. If you are interested in donating books, please contact one of the other Helsinki City Library locations.

Read more about vacancies and internships at Oodi

The City of Helsinki organised an open competition for the naming of the new library in October 2016. A total of 2,600 suggestions, 1,600 of which were different names, were ultimately submitted for the competition. Of these suggestions, the jury picked ‘Oodi’ as the name for the new library. The grounds for the selection included the fact that Oodi is easy to remember, short, easy to pronounce and inflect and works in many different languages. The aim was that the name should also have connections to literature and thus the library.

No, it is not. Pasila Library will remain Helsinki’s main library and the administrative centre for the city library, and it will continue to manage the city library’s national development duties. Pasila also houses Helsinki City Library’s largest music collection, multilingual library services and the book warehouse.

The idea was first proposed in 1998 by Claes Andersson, who was the Minister of Culture at the time, suggesting that a city library be built where the Finnish Parliament Annex now stands. On 28 January 2015, the City Council approved the construction of the Central Library.

On 28 January 2015, Helsinki City Council decided that Oodi was to be funded by the City of Helsinki. However, the state also granted 30 million euros, since Oodi is one of Finland’s key centennial projects. The total cost was 98 million euros.