The encyclopedia was initiated in 1969, and work began in July of the same year. The starting point was a perceived lack of attention to Swedish Finland in both Finnish and national encyclopedias.^[1]

To carry out the project, Föreningen finlandssvenska uppslagsverk ('the Finnish-Swedish Encyclopedia Association') was formed, which also received support from several Finnish-Swedish foundations and eventually from the Finnish state. The largest financial contribution was made by Svenska Folkskolans Vänner (SFV) and Schildts, which also acted as publisher.^[3]

The first edition was published in three volumes between 1982 and 1985,^[1] as the largest publishing venture in Swedish in Finland to date. The volumes were each about 700 pages long, and contained a total of about 9,000^[3] articles. By its own admission, the encyclopedia was a sales success, with distribution both in Swedish-speaking Finland and outside of the country.^[1]

After a number of years, however, the need for a new edition arose to cover developments in Swedish Finland. A second edition was published by Schildts in five volumes between 2003 and 2007, with a total of more than 12,000 articles.^[3] The financing was again mainly provided by SFV,^[1] and SFV noted a production cost of 10 million euros.^[4]

The second edition of Uppslagsverket Finland experienced some sales difficulties, similar to encyclopedias in book form in many other countries at the time.^[2]

In 2009, the encyclopedia was made available online for free.^[5] There are no subscriptions or passwords for the online edition or advertisements on the website. SFV was mainly responsible for the internet launch,^[3] while Schildts was responsible for updating the content and involved a number of experts.^[1]

In 2012, the two Finnish publishers Schildts and Söderström & Co merged to form Schildts & Söderströms. As a result of the merger, Uppslagsverket Finland was taken over in its entirety by SFV.^[1]

The article content, except for the majority of the images, may be reused under the Creative Commons free license CC-BY-SA 4.0.^[6]

At the time of its launch, Uppslagsverket Finland was located at the domain address www.uvf.fi.^[7] Since then, it has moved to www.uppslagsverket.fi, which has meant that links from Wikipedia have had to be reformatted.^[6]

Editors edit

The editor-in-chief of both printed editions was Henrik Ekberg [sv], and the chairman of the editorial board during production was Erik Allardt.^[1]

Sigbritt Backman was editor-in-chief of the online edition^[8] from autumn 2009 to autumn 2010, and then Johan Lindberg took over the task until spring 2012. The editor in charge since 1 June 2012 is Rabbe Sandelin.^[9]

At the time of the internet launch, it was noted that the responsibility for updating the encyclopedia was handled by two full-time editors;^[4] however, at the beginning of 2016, it was noted that Uppslagsverket Finland is not being actively updated. Readers are asked to contact the editorial team if anything needs updating.^[5]

Editorial board edit

In addition to the permanent editorial staff, the editorial board has been joined by some 20 Finnish-Swedish subject experts.^[4]

In February 2016, the following persons were listed as members of the editorial board of Uppslagsverket Finland:^[10]

First edition edit

1. Uppslagsverket Finland 1: A–J (1982), ISBN 951-50-0267-2
2. Uppslagsverket Finland 2: K–R (1983), ISBN 951-50-0296-6
3. Uppslagsverket Finland 3: S–Ö (1985), ISBN 951-50-0331-8

Second edition edit

1. Uppslagsverket Finland 1: Aal–Fil (2003), ISBN 951-50-1356-9
2. Uppslagsverket Finland 2: Fim–Kep (2004), ISBN 951-50-1369-0
3. Uppslagsverket Finland 3: Ker–Oly (2005), ISBN 951-50-1370-4
4. Uppslagsverket Finland 4: Oma–Sus (2006), ISBN 951-50-1371-2
5. Uppslagsverket Finland 5: Sut–Öve (2007), ISBN 951-50-1372-0

• Biografiskt lexikon för Finland

• Online version of the encyclopaedia

  Media related to Uppslagsverket Finland at Wikimedia Commons