koostajia

Koostaja is a Finnish noun that refers to a person who compiles or assembles materials into a single, coherent work. The verb form is koostaa, meaning to assemble, compile, or put together, and the suffix -ja denotes the doer of the action, yielding the agentive koostaja. The plural is koostajat.

In publishing and editorial contexts, a koostaja is often the editor or curator of a collection or anthology. The role involves selecting texts or materials from various sources, arranging them in a deliberate order, and coordinating the overall composition. A koostaja may also contribute an introduction, notes, or commentary, but the primary function is curatorial rather than original writing. The term is commonly used for anthologies, bibliographies, catalogs, or other compilations.

The concept also appears in library, archival, and data-collection work, where a koostaja assembles records, datasets, or metadata into a usable whole. In these settings, the emphasis is on organization, consistency, and accessibility of the gathered material.

Relation to other terms: toimittaja is the more general and widely used term for an editor, particularly in periodicals, while koostaja emphasizes the act of compiling from multiple sources. Kooste refers to the compilation itself or a montage, and koostaminen is the process of putting things together.

Overall, koostajat play a key role in shaping multi-author works and curated collections by determining structure, scope, and coherence.