Frequently asked questions about UEF Primo

As default, loans are sorted based on Due date – Oldest, i.e. UEF Primo displays loans so that the loans that are due first are displayed first.

Yes – you have three options:

1. "Due date – newest": loans to expire last are displayed first.
2. "Due date – oldest": loans to expire first are displayed first.
3. "Title": loans are displayed in alphabetical order based on the title.

You can change the sorting method by clicking on the "Sort by" button, which will then open a menu – select the sorting order of your choice. Please note that the sorting order reverts to the default (Due date – oldest), when you sign out of UEF Primo.

You can renew your loans when you are signed in to UEF Primo. You can sign in in one of two ways:

1. The "Sign in" button is in the upper right corner of the screen. Once you are signed in, you can find your loans by clicking on your name in the upper right corner of the screen. You can also use the “Renew Loans” icon under the “Shortcuts” section on the front page.
2. You can also sign in by clicking on "Menu" and "My Account." After signing in, the software will display a general overview of your loans, reservations, payments, loan blocks and messages.

You can renew all eligible loans by clicking on "Renew All". Alternatively, you can renew a selection of individual works by checking the box next to the loan you wish to renew and clicking "Renew selected". Additionally, you can renew any individual loans by clicking on the "Renew" button on the respective row.

If no "Renew" button is displayed, either the loan cannot be renewed or you have just renewed it, in which case the text "Renewed" will be displayed instead of the button.

UEF Primo does not keep track of the number of times a loan is renewed, but monitors the total loan period. The total loan period for course books and other literature has not been restricted. The total loan period for course books is 600 days and 600 days for four-week loans. You can renew loans every two or four weeks until you reach the maximum loan period, the due date is postponed by 14 or 28 days from the date of the renewal. If a book is reserved or the total loan period has elapsed, you cannot renew the loan. Each UEF Primo loan has a date on which the maximum loan period expires, renewal after this date will no longer be successful. Loans are renewed automatically for staff, when possible.

You cannot renew a loan if someone has reserved the work or you have exceeded the total loan period.

• Reading room copies are borrowed only overnight or for the weekend.
• You can borrow an overnight loan from customer service two hours before closing the library on weekdays and four hours before closing the library on weekends. The loan period is overnight until 10.00 on the next working morning.
  • Reserve a reading room copy online:
    • Joensuu Campus Library overnight loan booking system
    • Kuopio Campus Library overnight loan booking system
    • KUH Medical Library overnight loan booking system
  • Borrow the book at the customer service.
  • Return the book to the same campus library from where you borrowed it.
  • Legal deposit copies requested for reading room use cannot be borrowed outside the library.
• If a reading room copy is not returned on time:
  • The overdue fee is 2,50 €/book/day, max 15,00 €/book. This does not apply to staff members.

  • An overnight and weekend loan block that lasts for four months will be placed on the customer. This applies also to staff members.

  • Unreturned reading room copies will be invoiced on the fourth day from the due date.

Books in UEF Primo can be requested for reading room use in the library premises by placing a legal deposit copy request:

1. Log in to UEF Primo and find the book.
2. Select Legal deposit copy request.
3. Write down the pick-up library (Joensuu / Kuopio / KUH).
4. Submit request.

Books not included in UEF Primo can be requested by filling in the Legal deposit copy request form.

Read about The remote access to electronic resources on the Library's webpage.

•  Try another browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge)or another device.
•  Clear the cache / browser memory.Turn on the VPN if it is not on. Alternatively, turn off the VPN if it is on.
• Restart your computer.
• Check the remote access rights of your username from UEF IT Services (servicedesk@uef.fi).
• Open IP ports 2048 and 2443 to let the firewall to allow communication. Ask for more information from Tipa (servicedesk@uef.fi)

VPN (Virtual Private Network). In this case, the VPN connects the UEF’s network and your own home network over the public network, forming a seemingly private network. More information about UEF’s VPN can be found on Heimo.

Search from the collection "Everything". Refine your search by selecting "Availability": "Available online" and "Resource type": "Books".

The best source for Finnish articles is National Finna. Tip: refine your search by material type "journal/article." Articles about health science can be found in Medic database.

If you are carrying out a systematic search for a systematic review or a thesis, for example. Databases’ own user interfaces often have search functions that UEF Primo does not offer. These include index term lists and various search refinement tools.

If you wish to search databases that are not included in UEF Primo searches. These databases include

• Finnish article databases, such as Finna, Medic and Terveysportti.
• International EBSCO databases, such as Academic Search Premier, Business Source Complete, CINAHL and PsycINFO, are not fully included in UEF Primo searches. If you wish to perform comprehensive searches in EBSCO databases, we recommend using EBSCO’s own user interface.

The electronic material and international article searches in UEF Primo search for material in hundreds of different sources. In some sources, the right to search for material is restricted to users with access rights to the material. The content in these databases will not be included in searches unless you are logged in to UEF Primo. Scopus and Web of Science are examples of databases like this.

Other databases only verify access rights when the user want to access the material and searches can be conducted without signing in. In order to return more comprehensive results, sign in to UEF Primo in the top right corner before conducting searches. Signing in does not affect the search for printed material.

The search results will display ‘available’ in green if at least one copy of the book is available. For example, a book can be a reading room copy or a tentator's copy in the department. For a book like this, it says “Not borrowable” or “Staff use only. Not borrowable”.

You can view the due date on the availability screen, which you can access by clicking on the "Available at" (or "Not available") text in the search results. The availability display will show an arrow to the right (>) on the right side of the information concerning each work. Clicking on the arrow will display the due date.

For the time being, the due date information can only be displayed for one work at a time in most cases, but we are working on our collection to enable displaying due date information for all of the copies at the same shelf location at the same time.

We recommend Chrome or Firefox, but Safari and Edge should work too. These browsers are certified by the system provider.

Your selected language is retained on your next login if you have used the interface in your preferred language before logging out. In other words, if you logged out while your language setting was set to Finnish, your next login will direct you to the Finnish version. Similarly, if you logged out while your language setting was set to English, your next login will direct you to the English version.

Time-out is set to six hours. This means that if you are ‘passive’ in the service for six hours, you will be logged out of UEF Primo.