LUT Academic Library - How we became who we are
LUT Academic Library provides library services in different specialist fields for researchers and the general public in Lappeenranta and in Lahti. LUT Academic Library is the joint library for LUT University and LAB University of Applied Sciences.
LUT Academic Library's roots are based on the library and information work in Lappeenranta and in Lahti spanning several decades. The joint library for the Lappeenranta University of Technology and Saimaa University of Applied Sciences came true when Saimaa UAS moved to same campus with LUT in Lappeenranta.
Instead of maintaining two libraries "vying" with each other, we decided to combine our forces including our extensive knowledge, our expertise and our collections. Lappeenranta Academic Library celebrated the opening on the 1st of August 2011. Lappeenranta Academic Library had a branch library on the Linnala campus of Saimaa University of Applied Sciences in Imatra until 16th of May 2019.
The development was similar in Lahti, where Lahti Academic Library and Lahti Region Educational Consortium's Information and Library Service merged into Lahti Academic Library 1st of January 2011. Three previous locations were combined into Learning Centre Fellmannia, which was the Academic Library's main location until spring 2018.
2019 and the arrival of LUT Group meant a new merger for Lappeenranta Academic Library and Lahti Academic Library. LUT Academic Library started on 1st of September 2019 and it serves customers in both Lappeenranta and Lahti campuses.
Sustainable development and responsibility in LUT Academic Library
LUT Academic Library contributes to the sustainable development and responsibility of LUT and LAB. Libraries have always supported sustainability by providing shared materials and facilities for studying, research and meetings. The increasing emphasis on e-materials, transporting books between library locations and storing theses to the electronic LUTPub and Theseus repositories reduce the need for traveling and the space needed for printed collections. Along with our community and other university libraries we are constantly seeking ways to reduce the environmental load of information retrieval and creation without compromising the quality of information.