The next trend to emerge was increasing efficiency and reducing the cost of storing ’passive’ printed materials. It was decided that Kumpula Campus library would be completely renovated into a more compact unit. Some 40% of printed collections were sent away – mostly to the National Repository Library. The 388 shelf meters of astronomy journals melted down to 86 shelf meters in the process. All journals were stored in moving boxes for more than a year, from autumn 2013 on.

The astronomy book collection was similarly cut. This happened at a time when the astronomy e-book collection was finally starting to grow. Most of the printed books that were sent away dated back to 1960s and 1970s (Figure 3).

The remaining print collection available to the astronomers is just a fraction of what it used to be. Instead of lamenting the fact, we need to ask whether the Helsinki astronomers have access to astronomy resources they need in order to do research.