We are featured on the March issue of the printed Finnish magazine Kirjastolehti, the publication of the Finnish Library Association.

In line with the ongoing development of AI-powered services in Finnish public libraries, Kotka City Library is piloting an innovative chatbot service built by Biblioworks.ai on the Kyyti platform. The project explores the use of AI in customer service, allowing library staff to focus on more complex tasks. Below is an AI-generated translation of the article published in Kirjastolehti 3/2025, covering our pilot in detail.

On August 2025 the article was also published online, as Kotkassa testataan kirjaston tekoälybottia.

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Courage to Try

Kotka’s libraries are testing a chat service based on artificial intelligence.

The city wants part of the customer service to be handled by AI in the future.
Library professionals say they need more training on the subject.

Kotka City Library has developed a chatbot service that answers customer questions around the clock—without the need for staff.

Artificial intelligence has already been trained, for example, with event information from local libraries and presentation materials.

“I’ve been in the same team as the city’s developers for a long time, and this has been a successful collaboration. The service works very well in my opinion”

Mikko Vainio

The chatbot is connected to the Kyyti library system’s data interface, Finna.
It is a Finnish solution and has been linked to the system via a few lines of code.

Long-Term Development

The service has been designed and developed by a small team over a year.

Vainio says building the chatbot has required a fair amount of instruction crafting and paperwork. It’s been a learning process in data protection, communication, marketing, and legal practices.

Why aren’t similar services more common in libraries?

Vainio suspects it’s partly due to resource constraints and that even larger companies are just starting to integrate AI-based services.

AI-based chatbot services are already offered by major tech companies.

Plenty of Interest

The book Artificial Intelligence and Libraries (Avain, 2025) by Teemu Ruokanen and Seinäjoki University of Applied Sciences lecturer Ari Haasio confirms that AI interest is growing in the library field.

Theoretically, libraries could use AI to make automated recommendations based on user interests.

For example, Hämeenlinna University of Applied Sciences has tested such a chatbot.

Ruokanen notes that many hope AI will help handle routine tasks. Based on his survey with Ruokanen, many respondents feel they need more training on the subject.

Threats Feel Familiar

When discussing AI, fears often arise—like those previously seen with new technologies.

Haasio and Vainio both point out that the current AI boom is not the first. AI-based solutions have been around since the 1990s.

Finnish libraries have long offered digital services for free to the public.

Libraries may use predictive analytics to anticipate customer needs. The goal isn’t to replace librarians, but to support them—especially where time and resources are scarce.

For example, Helsinki’s public transportation system uses similar models. Kotka has used the chatbot to reduce pressure on live services during off-hours.

The chatbot is connected to a secure environment, using a trimmed-down version of ChatGPT.

It’s also been reassuring for the city that the system runs internally, not somewhere vaguely on the internet.

Mikko Vainio

A Hazy Future

Libraries fear that AI will take over their roles.

Vainio sees it differently:

“I believe AI will free us up to focus more on meaningful work.”

How will libraries change? Development depends heavily on the funding decisions of each municipality.

Who decides what information the AI provides?

In an ideal world, libraries themselves train the AI to reflect their values and knowledge base.

If funding dries up and the city wants to subscribe to a private service later, then we’ll be relying on someone else’s paid model.

🖋 Article credits: Juho Liukkonen