New features in Bläddra

Bläddra is a free e-book app created and run by OPEN-project-partner the National Library of Sweden. Bläddra launched in April 2021, after it was developed through the collaboration of librarians, UX designers, developers, and minority representatives. The app previously offered materials in Sámi, Meänkieli, Romani, and Yiddish. This year, new functions were introduced including Finnish language capabilities and an audio player. 

Bläddra was developed by the National Library of Sweden after research in 2018 revealed that books in the country’s minority languages were few and hard to find. Although Finnish books are widely accessible, reading materials in Sámi, Meänkieli, Romani, and Yiddish are only represented to a very limited extent in public libraries. The app is therefore intended to provide a digital, widely accessible solution to this access problem. It offers free access to over 300 e-books, ranging from children’s stories to fiction and non-fiction, from old classics to modern releases. 

The app is open and accessible free of charge. It is built on Readium technology, providing an open-source format which means it can continue to shift and change to serve its users. Those accessing the app are not required to register, nor are they tracked. Furthermore, the reading experience is intentionally clean and simple, ensuring that it feels like other e-reading services rather than a tool that singles out minority groups. By October 2025, over 1500 publications had been downloaded from the platform. 

The success of Bläddra among users demonstrates the ways in which technology can be harnessed by libraries to improve the representativeness and accessibility of the resources that are freely available to the public. It can serve as an inspiration to other libraries – especially as its large userbase suggests enthusiasm among its target users.