INTERNET AND THE FINNISH

INTERNET AND THE FINNISH PUBLIC LIBRARIES

Erkki Lounasvuori

The Cable Book/Helsinki City Library
Helsinki, Finland
E-mail: eke@katto.kaapeli.fi

Pentti Vattulainen

The National Repository Library
Helsinki, Finland
E-mail: Pentti.Vattulainen@uku.fi

Finland is a developed democratic country with a rather high standard of living. We got our independence in 1917 and our area is 338.145 sg. kilometers and the population for the present 5.1 million people, of which 61% are living in cities.

There are over 1000 public libraries in Finland. Of these, 455 are municipal main libraries, the rest are branch libraries. In addition, there are over 200 mobile libraries in Finland. Libraries are financed partly by local municipalities and partly by the state. According to national legislation and policies, public libraries are considered to be among the basic public services.

There are also 800 research libraries including 20 university libraries and 10 scientific subject responsibility libraries. Helsinki University Library acts as the nominal National Library. It is, however, a national library for university libraries, and many national library functions are taken care by other libraries.

The National Repository Library is one of them. Originally it was the national storage center for less used library material, but it has gradually developed to be an important tool for national collection development policy and a national document supply system. It is an example of national resource sharing which seems to be more and more important in times of economic hardship. It is also a vital link between the two library networks - public and research library networks, which are - like in most European countries - quite separate and self-sufficient.

In this paper, we concentrate mainly on the Finnish public libraries. The public libraries provide all citizens equitable access to recorded information, knowledge and culture, whether in traditional or electronic format. They offer resources for work, study and leisure purposes.

Public library use is very active in Finland. In the first half of the decade, loans per capita and the number of visits to libraries increased steadily. In 1994, the average circulation figure per inhabitant was 20.2, with 12.4 visits per inhabitant. Every second Finn was a registered library user in 1994, but it is estimated that 60-80% of the Finnish people use public libraries in one way or another.

Helsinki City Library has acted as the National Central Library for public libraries since 1981. For the Central Library tasks the City Library is granted a separate allowance from the governmental funds each year, in the same way as the regional libraries.

The tasks of the National Central Library are enacted in the library statute. The current statute came into force on 1st January, 1993. According to the statute, the tasks of the National Central Library include among others:

The history of library automation begins in Finland in the 70's. Research libraries started national automation cooperation in 1974, when the Automation Unit of the Finnish Research Libraries was founded. Public libraries followed the development, and in the middle of the 70's a consortium of the libraries in the metropolitan area was founded. In 1978 the first public library started circulation based on batch processing.

In the 80's automation spread very fast and gradually online solutions became more popular. At the moment 84% of public libraries have an automated library system. Practically all of the current 16 different library systems are online.

Probably the most important achievement was that in the process of these developments new kind of cooperation emerged between libraries. The cooperation was on a regional bases or depended on common software.

The Automation Unit of the Finnish Research Libraries decided to purchase common software - VTLS - for all university libraries, the Repository Library and the Parliament Library. The coordinated system was believed to be the only way to create an online national union catalogue, which would allow cooperative on line cataloguing and on line ordering from the catalogues of the participating libraries.

The usage of IT in public libraries has been less coordinated than in university libraries. Municipalities can decide by themselves which (library) applications they purchase. Therefore a great variety of different local library automation systems was installed during the 80's. The systems were at first not necessarily compatible with common standards like ISO2709 or ISO6937/2. But new library systems introduced in the 90's do support these standards, and as a part of the public libraries' MANDA union catalogue database creation 'old' library systems used by regional central libraries have been enhanced with the capability to read and write ISO2709 records.

MANDA union catalogue was founded in 1991. MANDA contains all material types in the catalogues of the regional central libraries.

Some years ago in Finland, like in many other countries, Internet came out from the academic world and spread very rapidly throughout many sectors in the society. In our country the spreading was faster and easier than normal, because we had already a good networking infrastructure for other purposes. Our country is rather big by the geographical area and houses are scattered and that's why - in order to get or maintain connections - we really need functional networking. In addition our high-tech industry knew what would happen in the near future and they were at the forefront of promoting the breakthrough of Internet, also by investing in it.

Not only the technical and commercial sectors but also the public sector reacted to the new challenge of Internet and its possibilities. The library sector was among the first. "Information super highway" and "Information society" were the new slogans and everyone tried to define their contents. Also many non-governmental organizations (NGOs) emphasized the term of "networking Citizens' society" with its "roads and even tracks in the forests". The roots of Internet in Finnish public libraries are related to the cooperation with NGOs.

In Spring 1993 the Helsinki City Library had negotiations with technical student Jyrki Kuoppala and the "cooperative information society" Katto-Meny about Internet. The idea was to provide clients with Internet connections in libraries. It took half a year to found an Internet project, called Knot at the Cable, between Helsinki City Library and Katto-Meny.

Katto-Meny is owned by NGOs and activists, associations, journalists and others who have bought shares costing FIM 250 (50 dollars). Katto-Meny is working to increase access to electronic information and to make it easier to use the computer networks.

In February 1994 Cable Book Library was opened. At the beginning there was only one computer for client use, but it was really connected to Internet and clients could use WWW by Mosaic and read email. The server was in the corner of the library. A couple of weeks later Cable Book got a message from Indiana, USA: "You were the first public library in the world providing Internet for the patrons, but we were the second one and first one in USA". The email-message was sent from South Bend Public Library by Mr. Don Napoli.

As a token of this remarkable success, the Knot at the Cable-project was awarded the Finnish Government's annual prize for praiseworthy work in spreading information and communication.

But "the times they are changing" and this is very true in the Internet world. The Knot at the cable-project was not sufficient in the continuously growing networking of public libraries. The Cable Book moved out from the Cable Factory in Spring 1996, but the Knot at the Cable still continues working, nowadays concentrating more on the functions of the NGOs and of the members of Katto-Meny.

Development of a national information policy in Finland is mainly the responsibility of the government. Primary players in this area are the Ministry of Education, The Ministry of Transport and Communications and Ministry of Finance. The Ministry of Education has been more interested in the information content of the information superhighway, while the latter ministries have concentrated more on the technical and economical aspects.

In 1994 the Ministry of Finance prepared a national information management strategy 'Towards a Finnish Information Society'. The strategy places the different media, schools and libraries in a central position. By the year 2000 all of Finland's schools and public libraries shall be connected to information networks. The goal of the library system is to serve as an access point for all citizens and also to promote network literacy and life-long learning.

In its decision in principle of January 18, 1995, the Council of State noted that 'public libraries will be supported as open information network nodes, and information network services will be introduced throughout the library system as soon as possible'.

The Ministries were then given the task of preparing a set of actions to reach the desired goals set by the Council of State. In the national strategy, 'Education, training and research in the information society', a development program for public libraries was outlined by the Ministry of Education. According to the Ministry "Libraries continue to have an important role in securing the public's right of access to information. Libraries are central in guaranteeing equality, in ensuring the availability of information, and in guiding users in handling equipment and accessing information. All citizens should have the right to use information network services in libraries at an affordable price."

During 1996, the Ministry will invest 236 million FIM (=52 million USD) to foster creation of information superhighway in Finland. 20 million FIM (=4,4 million USD) of this sum will be used in library sector. Public and research libraries will receive 10 million FIM each.

In order to deliver the funds the Ministry drew up an Action Plan for the development of 'Culturally oriented Information Society' and made 60 proposals for the years 1997-2000. These proposals aim at e.g. enhancing and promoting network use and services in libraries, CD-ROM and multimedia production in Finland and their use through libraries. The Action Plan also includes consideration of issues relating to the obligatory deposit of publications and copyright.

The Ministry of Transport and Communications published a report on the national guidelines on network development in Finland, and also a separate report on multimedia in 1995. The report mentions that the information services and CD-ROM collections of public libraries have to be developed. An interoperable unity of information networks has to be created taking into consideration the needs of economy, the public sector and citizens.

One of the means in which the Internet use in public libraries will be promoted is the House of Knowledge Project. This project is part of a larger group called 'the Special Cultural Projects'. All these projects are financed by the Ministry of Education. The House of Knowledge Project is administered by the Finnish Library Association, which also dealt with the allocation of funds in the first year of this 3-year project. Its purpose is:

In 1995 the emphasis of the project was to get the Internet use started in as many libraries as possible. Libraries were granted 'starter money', which was primarily meant to be used in Internet training. At this point the regional libraries were a priority, because of their central position. Regional libraries are well positioned to influence and give help to the surrounding municipalities. Besides the regional libraries, 26 public libraries of different sizes all over the country were given a grant in the first year of the project.

Part of the project money was used on Knot at the Cable, which is a pioneering venture for Internet use in libraries. Part of the resources were used on information production on Internet, e.g.:

An article collection has been published containing Finnish translations of presentations about the Internet from the IFLA conference last year in Istanbul.

From February 1996 onwards the project has operated at the Cable Factory, in the premises of Katto-Meny.

In 1996 the Finnish Government promised for the next three years to provide 10 million FIM (2,2 million USD) per year for developing public library networking. In 1996 the Ministry of Education received over 300 applications for funds from the Finnish public libraries and over 200 (exactly 231) got funding for their network projects: for hiring experts, staff training and buying computers.

Of the 10 million marks about half will be used in hiring regional network experts. Libraries with joint networks and regional libraries can apply for this kind of monetary help. Training library staff to use the networks and information technology in general, arranged either locally or nationally, is a possible cost to be covered by these funds.

Other possible costs to be covered by these funds are additional programs needed to develop network connections and starter money to cover the costs of the first years of network use. Only those municipalities with under 2000 inhabitants can apply for money to be used in equipment purchases. Here the library projects differ from those of schools: schools are encouraged to purchase equipment.

The last target for the use of the project money is listed as "other possible functions promoting the use of networks", which permits financing unusual ideas. These will clearly have to serve the use of networks in libraries.

"Towards the Information Society" project has a very high priority in the Ministry of Education. In the future the program will concentrate in promoting contents production and even "national contents industry".

At the moment the amount of Internet users per inhabitant in Finland is highest in the world. Also the use of Internet in libraries is on the top level in the world. This has naturally already had an enormous influence on libraries, the library system and librarianship as a profession. What is most essential, however, is that the influence has not been limited within the libraries, but it has also meant the increase of social debate. The basics of librarianship, the service philosophy of libraries and the meaning and role of libraries in the society have come under reconsideration. Discussion about the structure of national information provision as well as the concept and meaning of national self-sufficiency have got new contents. This will in due time have an influence on many kinds of practical solutions within the library branch.

In the following we shall describe some of the solutions in Finnish public libraries, which hopefully illustrate the above sketches.

Cable Book was the library where everything started - it is the "Internet flagship" in Finland. Cable Book is a branch of the Helsinki City Library and it was founded in February 1994. At the beginning it worked in the Cable Factory, which is an old cable factory, but now a cultural building concentrating on new arts, dance, film etc. The library operated there for over 2 years and in May 1996 it moved to the center of Helsinki City, to Lasipalatsi-building.

Lasipalatsi is a functionaliztic building from the year 1936 and it is owned by Helsinki City. There have been many kinds of plans relating to this building. According to the newest plans, Lasipalatsi will be rebuilt by the end of the year 1998 to become a Cinema and Multimedia Center. Then the greatest part of the building will be rented out (with high price) to commercial enterprises: Cinema, TV-studios, Audiovisual workshops and stores, bars and restaurants... In addition to the library, Helsinki City will have an Information Center and some other form of action in the new Lasipalatsi.

The rapid and wide introduction and implementation of the new technology has been possible because of the important role the public libraries have in the Finnish society. The new technology has been promoted also in the open discussions between the Government, NGOs, and, for its part, the National Central Library for public libraries, Helsinki City Library with its Cable Book Branch. The Government has played an important role in stating the principles and in granting money for development and training. The municipalities finance the hardware purchases, but it has been easier to obtain money from the local authorities when the Government has shown the direction.

Apart from the strategic plans of the government, some of the libraries have their own Internet strategies. The general attitude - as has been said - towards Internet is liberal. Libraries want to guarantee clients free and versatile access to Internet.

Helsinki City Library is the first library to create an articulated Internet strategy: 'Internet Guidelines for the Helsinki City Library'. In the strategy library emphasizes that Internet is an important part of the library function. In the strategy the ideal Internet services for clients are listed as follows:

PULSE- PUblic LibrarieS Enterpage (in Finland) is the collection of interesting materials and links related to Finnish public libraries. This is - to our knowledge - the only World Wide Web home page in the world for a whole national public library system.

The goal is to keep PULSE in synchrony with the pulse of today. PULSE is first of all intended for everybody working in the library. It is a tool for everyday work, it offers impulses for professional reforms and a channel for communication. But PULSE is also intended for anybody interested in what's happening in public libraries or who wants to cooperate with us. PULSE will never be ready - the process is never ending.

PULSE contains tools for information retrieval and interlibrary lending. It is also a publishing forum for all kinds of articles on librarianship. It contains links to most important library resources on Internet, to organizations, projects and commercial services.

The idea of PULSE was proposed in Autumn 1994 by two librarians, Erkki Lounasvuori and Hannu Taskinen. They received money for planning it from the House of Knowledge Project and the first release was ready in Summer 1995. After that PULSE got more people to develop it and now there is a PULSE editorial office, which means that 6 persons in addition to their regular jobs are maintaining PULSE-pages. The idea is that PULSE will become as self-piloting as possible - every library-worker has a possibility to influence the contents of PULSE without any control.

Today PULSE is the most popular www library page in Finland, and little by little library workers have realized its value and meaning in everyday library work.

In a survey sent out to all Finnish municipalities with libraries, the Ministry of Education found that by the end of the year 1995 39% of all municipal libraries were connected to the Internet. Most of these libraries were not able to offer public access to Internet in 1995, but the situation changes all the time, much like the network itself. All in all, Finnish public libraries have a high rate of Internet connectivity, which is constantly rising.

60% of the libraries offering public access terminals were applying some kind of restrictions and rules to Internet use. In most libraries users have to produce some kind of identification (ID of library card), usually there is a time limit of one or two hours per user as well.

Most of the libraries offered downloading possibilities, and almost a half had a printer available for public use. So far, only a couple of libraries were charging for any of these services.

E-mail is also frequently used in public libraries. All the regional central libraries use listservs / electronic discussion lists. Public libraries also plan to produce local and regional databases not only with reference information, but also full-text excerpts, life-histories of local writers and artists, and pictures.

The libraries express the benefits of Internet in the survey in the following way:

A very concrete problem for most libraries is space: the library buildings have not been designed with the new media, increasing technology and cabling in mind. The question of space often dictates where the terminals will be placed. The most common place for a

public access Internet station in libraries is the adult lending department or the reference department. A few libraries have reserved an Internet terminal for the use of children and youth as well.

Finally we approach a difficult problem: the question of the influence of Internet on the existing institutions. As has been described, the Finnish library system has over the years developed into two quite separate library networks that have more or - usually - less to do with each other.

Various solutions have been adopted during the years to enhance cooperation and resource sharing inside the networks and between them. For example interlibrary lending has been institutionalized on the basis of regional central libraries and the national central library. Mainly to speed up interlibrary lending the union catalogue of these libraries was founded. Networking and better information retrieval possibilities have made regional central libraries' role in interlending obsolete. At the moment small libraries have practically as good access to any library catalogue as regional central libraries.

National collection development has been another direction, where practical solutions have been institutionalized. The goal for national collection development has been to strive to as self-sufficient national information provision as possible. Behind this is the fact that at least since the 60's interlibrary lending from abroad has been internationally seen exceptionally high in Finland - e.g.. Finnish libraries have been the biggest national customer group per inhabitants of the British Library Document Supply Centre.

As a part of the national collection development policy in research libraries, the National Repository Library was founded in 1989. The idea was to collect less used material to a library. This gives other libraries free hands to renew their active collections. Nationally heavily used material was placed to scientific subject responsibility libraries where they also had much local use. The philosophy is the opposite of that which was applied in Britain, where libraries can rely on BLDSC when they need nationally heavily used material.

Especially the university libraries have used the collection development service of the Repository Library. About 80 per cent of the material transferred to the library have come from university libraries. More than half of the interlibrary lending goes, however, to public libraries.

Networking has changed also this setting. Like the institutions around interlending, the institutions around collection development must have started to adopt themselves to the change. Electronic services have become central in the development of the Repository Library. It started in interlending, when Ariel-program was acquisitioned to deliver documents over Internet. Besides document delivery services there are plans to use the Repository Library as a repository for material which has been published only in electronic form.

Finnish public libraries have adopted two basic roles in the network environment: one is acting as a safety net for citizens, providing free, equitable access and training for users. The other role is no less demanding. Libraries see it as their task to organize the resources and services on Internet by creating directories and developing tools for information retrieval.

It is said that from the users' perspective Internet's greatest potentials lie in it's communication qualities. This fact has been emphasized when the ideals of democracy have been mixed to the discussion about Internet. There are librarians who honestly believe that Internet is a necessity for the citizens' society. At least these arguments seem to be valid when applying funds for libraries from the government or even the European Union.

Some librarians keep on arguing about the way the funds that are allocated to libraries direct their development. They ask that when resources are scarce, how important is it to promote the use of Internet? Why do we have to buy a PC, when with the same money we could arrange fairy tale hours for children for one year? Who in fact knows best how libraries have to be developed: librarians or politicians?

Another change touches the concept of resource sharing. In an electronic environment the old institutions have to adopt themselves to changes. But there will also be new national functions which may also need to be institutionalized. For example the maintenance of PULSE - the PUblic LibrarieS Enterpage has to be arranged, most probably it will be the duty of the national center library office.

Internet changes the nature of information and publishing. With hypermedia links, connections can be built from one document to others. As a result, the reader may never return to the original document, but rather takes an interest in new things and aspects along the way. Internet can be seen as one huge hypermedia document or web comprising of millions of pages, each with an exact network address. All the pages are linkable to each other and each reader creates her own, individual paths through the web - if two people start reading the same document on Internet, most often after an hour they're at very different corners of the web from each other.

This leads us to one of the most difficult problems of the electronic material. So far - when the concept of a publication has been clear - legal deposit arrangements have been quite successful in preserving the national cultural heritage. How should the electronic material be preserved and archived for generations to come?

Hakala, Juha. (1996). State-of-the-art of Information Technologies in Finnish Libraries. Helsinki: Helsinki University Library. ISBN 951-45-7471-0

Automation Unit of Finnish Research Libraries http://linnea.helsinki.fi/enindex.html

Internet strategy / Helsinki City Library http://www.lib.hel.fi/strategia/english/

National Central Library Office http://www.lib.hel.fi/syke/english/central-lib.html