1. Developing services of quality -the Finnish National Digital Library as part of developing user-oriented services

2. The National Digital Library The National Digital Library is a huge project, financed by the Ministry of Education and Culture, a structure for contents and services with the purpose of promoting access to resources of archives, museums and libraries, including public libraries, and developing the long-term preservation of digital cultural heritage materials. Through the public interface, users can search the digital resources, renew loans, buy pictures, order materials and use many other services. More than 70 people in 35 organisations are involved in the project, representing 600 libraries, museums and archives. There are 50 million database references, 2 million pages of newspapers, 2 million pages of archive material and hundreds of thousands of photographs, church records, war diaries, works of art, artists´ sketch books, museum artefacts and herbarium speciments. Licenced material comprises a multitude of e-books and e- journals. The cooperation has enhanced know-how and skills in all the sectors, and brought them closer together. The public interface will be introduced in phases beginning later this year. It is maintained and developed centrally by the National Library.

3. The role of public libraries in this project was primarily to give access to cultural heritage for all citizens. The network of public libraries is extensive, their staff is competent and service- minded, they are open to all and easy to visit. By connecting libraries.fi to one of the main working groups there was also the idea of introducing the waste range of services of public libraries to an - after all - very collection-oriented project. University libraries are responsible for preserving rare books. A lot of public libraries were founded at the beginning of the 1860:ies, most of them have small collections of books from that time, mostly the same books and usually lacking greater interest. But there are indeed special collections, related to the history of the region. Helsinki City Library, the Central Library of all public libraries, is a partner of Europeana Local, organizing also the participation of other libraries. As for the integrating the wide range of digitised services, developed by the public libraries with focus on the user, there are still some problems to be solved...

4. The aim of the EU Commission is that all member states have made a national aggregation initiative by 2015. The National Digital Library contributes to these objectives; the digitisation of cultural materials and scientific information and their long-term preservation.The system for feeding into Europeana is presently tested by the National Library. It´s all there, the pilots are running – Turku City Library is one of the pilots – but I can´t show you anything stunning here today as we are not in the production phase yet. I hope that our digital library will be really stunning when the Day comes, not least because of combining extensive collections with user-oriented services. For the moment, the pilots have been prolonged, but soon there will be more to tell and more to show. Public libraries are excellent conveyors of cultural heritage through their network of easily accessed service points and as partners they bring their user-oriented views into the projects. Delivering cultural heritage is but part of their wide range of services, but it opens up the lid of a fantastic treasure chest for all citizens – regardless of domicile. www.kdk.fi/en A report on the first phase can be found in English atwww.kdk.fi/en http://www.minedu.fi/OPM/Julkaisut/2011/Kansallinen_digitaalinen_kirjasto.html?lang=fi&extra_locale=en

5. Focusing on expertise, emphasizing quality - key words in the Finnish Public Library Policy 2015. In 2009, the Ministry of Education and Culture appointed a workgroup to renew quality recommendations. The assignment was to draw up a presentation of a national set of criteria for quality observing local and regional conditions and generating tools for self-evaluation to draft a presentation about how the social impact of public libraries can be measured on a national scale to make proposals about new key figures for the statistical database.

6. A framework and a tool All successful organisations evaluate themselves and learn from the results. There are general quality recommendations for public service. Inhabitants are basically satisfied with public service, and public libraries have been at the top of these surveys for many years. The Government Platform, the Library Act, the national strategies and policies and the common strategies of the municipalities all oblige libraries to evaluate and enhance the quality of services. Not least when the economy is strained, there is the need to show that resources are used properly and leading to good results. Evaluation should generate new possibilities and effects. The Government Platform mentions the need to weigh the quality of municipal services, to enhance the working culture and to develop quality criterions. The base service (schools, health, libraries and rescue services) program 2011-2014 strongly brings forth the user perspective. According to the national library policies high quality library services save time and money and generate sustainable, long-term and positive societal change.

7. Societal implication and effect The continuing municipality reform has generated not only larger municipalities but also an interest in finding alternative ways of organising municipal services, so evaluation is currently seen as an important part of municipal management. Also local libraries have merged into bigger units, with former main libraries as nearby libraries and different views on how services should be arranged. Library use has changed. The users have their own quality criterions. They value trustworthiness, accuracy, competence, availability, suitable opening hours, kindness and ability to communicate and meet current needs. But focusing on the users is not enough, there must be productivity and results, too. Societal implication and effect have become increasingly important key words – by far more difficult to measure than obliging legislation or being productive. How do libraries contribute to welfare and health, to the development of the region? In a national survey 70 % of respondents said that the library has enhanced their quality of life, 40 % said that they have found important material for work and studies and 40 % said that the library has increased their social contacts. The decision-makers might be looking for more specific indicators...

8. From quality criterions to quality descriptions The work group sees criterions more as descriptions of quality in administration, services and activities, with a view to the whole structure and the results. By `quality´ the recommendation refers to excellence, relevance, a focus on the user, ability to change and economic efficiency. The quality management guidelines describe procedures, processes and systems the library should use to ensure quality. A good library must be able to learn – success does not come by itself. The description concerning the local stakeholders includes the most essential elements in the overall quality of a library. It is intended as a brief and it includes a library´s Service Promise. Competent leadership is essential from the municipality´s view, for continuous, up-to-date development of services. Library services of quality are part of cultural rights, a barrier against marginalization. Functional and pleasant premises, a modern library system, updated collections, a competent staff and opening hours accomodated to local needs are included in the Service Promise.The municipality guarantees a stabile financing that gives room also for development.

9. A good library invites also inhabitants and users to influence development of services. The financial structure, the results, the productivity and the quality of services are measured by several indicators: visits in the physical library/capita visits/capita on the library web sites lending figures costs for acquisition and activities feedback from user surveys and experiences from new forms of service

10. Part of everyday life Using the services should be made easy by providing guidance and assistance. Young peoples´ needs should be met and developed in cooperation with youth work and young customers, there should be close cooperation with kindergartens and schools. Whatever the type of service – here the mobile library visits a rock festival - it must be effectively promoted. If at least half of the residents are active users, visiting the library once a month, and the lending figures are 20 per capita and year, the library may emphatically declare itself good! (27-22 loans/capita is quite ordinary, in the metropolitan area 15/capita)

11. Personnel and professional competence An essential gauge of quality is a sufficient number of staff members with up-to-date competences.Libraries are expected to mediate relevant information and knowledge and to create quality online services. Experts in all fields cannot be found in every small library, collaboration is necessary. The role of the library director is crucial, the director should be provided with the tools for good management. Amendments in the Library Act have tightened the competence requirements for library staff. At least 45 % shall have an academic degree, all library managers, even in bransch libraries, shall have a master´s degree. The number of staff should be dimensioned in accordance with local needs and the breadth of the service supply, perceiving also the need for specialised services, work with children and young people, development of web services and taking part in local and regional projects. The recommendation is 0,80 man-years/1000 inhabitants. The previous figure was 1/1000 inh but now extended automatisation, networking and collaboration is recommended.

12. Local collections should be developed for the needs of the residents as part of a regional collection and the library should be involved in regional cooperation in acquisition, stocking and evaluation. Collections for children should promote literacy and an interest in reading as well as learning, with a view also to media literacy and media education. Active promoting and presenting of contents should be part of collection work. Nationally licenced e-material is distributed by the provincial libraries. E-material is an increasing part of the collections. The Repository Library nowadays serves public more than scientific libraries, the place of less demanded printed material is not in the shelves of the local library. Still, local collections are part of our intellectual heritage, they should be up-to-date but the time-related depth should be there, the classics, the literary heritage. Of collections, 90 % is still printed books, of acquistion 84 % and of lending 74 %. In 2009, new acquisitions were 5,3 % of collections, write-offs were 6,4 %. The UNESCO recommendation is (at least) 8 and 8 %.

13. Premises There are state grants for constructing new libraries. According to a survey from 2009 more than half of libraries estimate their premises good or even excellent. There is an average of 40 users in the libraries every opening hour. A good library is centrally located, in the vicinity of other services, and planned for users more than for collections. Users drop by or spend time in the premises, relaxing, learning, studying or working. The recommendation is 100 m2/1000 inhabitants, 74 % of libraries have at least the recommended space.

14. The quality recommendation is based on legislation and national programs, not least the policy for 2015: "The way people learn, seek information, read and write, as well as the way they use the library have changed and will continue to change." is truly user-oriented, acknowledging the current situation: in 2010 there were 53 million visits in the physical library, and 57 million visits on library web sites (5 million inhabitants), and the average lending was18 per capita (the metropolitan area´s 15!) states that satisfaction level in customer surveys should be at least 80 % and surveys should be carried out every 2-3 years. manifests a strong belief in the future of physical libraries and virtual services, and a continuous need for library professionals. The added value of library services is that they serve the individual here and now, in the current life situation, whether it is a question of face-to-face service or some kind of Ask-a-librarian-service on the web. Future success must be earned: "Libraries answer to future challenges by focusing on expertise and emphasizing quality."

15. More about Finnish public libraries www.minedu.fi home page of the Ministry of Education and Culture, trilingual, choose English, libraries. Legislation, programs, strategies and much more www.libraries.fi trilingual as well, home page of public libraries