1. The National Library of Finland MetaLib/SFX and Public Libraries Jukka Pennanen & Leena Salminen The National Library of Finland 3.9.06 IGeLU Stockholm, Sweden Jukka Pennanen & Leena Salminen The National Library of Finland 3.9.06 IGeLU Stockholm, Sweden

2. The National Library of Finland Consortia in Finland 3 sectors using MetaLib/SFX: university, polytechnic and public libraries 64 portals (MetaLib instances) 20 university (19 live) 29 polytechnic (18 live 2006 ) 15 public (5 live 2006) 0 special libraries 2006 5 SFX instances (3-5 institutions each)

3. The National Library of Finland Public libraries’ sector 19 regional libraries (Aland Islands excluded) 431 municipalities (2006) Implementation administered and steered by regional libraries Working groups in libraries: project managers, resource experts, librarians Meetings with project managers ~4/year Domestic training, mailing lists, help files Trainees work as local trainers in libraries

4. The National Library of Finland Regional portals Started in 2005 1 MetaLib installation, 15 instances 5 SFX instances Pohjanportti: 3 regional libraries Pohjalaisten Nelli: 3 regional libraries Rest have their own MetaLib instances 5 SFX shared instances (3−5/SFX) 1 MetaLib/SFX server for all libraries 1 regional portal has applied authentication against the patron database of their library system The rest are waiting some solution to authentication?

5. The National Library of Finland Distribution of work between libraries and Nelli office Based on the agreement of services Each regional library approves and signs it Regional libraries work for the libraries in the province Regional libraries work with libraries in the province To add local licensed resources to the portal To train them to use the local portal How to make local resources compatible with MetaLib? Nelli office Maintains the Nelli server Updates software and knowledgebases Works with central domestic configurations (FinELib licensed)

6. The National Library of Finland Problems and challenges Not enough manpower and skills Lack of MetaLib compatible local resources Lack of configuration for the local resources Challenge: to develop a portal especially addressed to public libraries’ customers Locally/regionally profiled portal (e.g. sub portals)

7. The National Library of Finland Benefits Participate in developing of national library portal services and e-services generally Public libraries do not be a separate from other libraries and their e-services’ development

8. The National Library of Finland MetaLib for public libraries in Finland Four portals for public libraries Pohjanportti, Pirkanmaan Nelli, Varsinais-Suomi, Keski-Suomi Pohjanportti = three regional libraries together Varsinais-Suomi = 53 public (municipal) libraries, bilingual Pirkanmaa = population 500 000, a web service with 33 libraries with two different ILS, long traditions of regional cooperation

9. The National Library of Finland Portals in regional libraries

10. The National Library of Finland Experiences from libraries Training as a challenge… How libraries did it? How many were trained? Problems, challenges Possibilities…

11. The National Library of Finland Training as a challenge… Training of library staff was started before the portals were in production Development / usability ideas from the staff? (From patrons?) Self-made training materials (shared materials) based on training materials provided by Nelli- office Experienced trainers in all regions (in the first phase trained by Nelli-office) Patrons have not been trained yet!

12. The National Library of Finland How libraries did it? 1,5-3 hours training sessions Introduction Basics in searching Hands on Summary, development, problems Visions, discussion Brush ups, workshops Continuing local training

13. The National Library of Finland How many were trained? Pohjanportti: 50 training sessions for 515 library professionals of 645 totally in the region Varsinais-Suomi : 81 + 41 + 14 (training on site in libraries in small groups) Pirkanmaa started training for staff two years before production, 1/3 had been trained when portal was opened

14. The National Library of Finland Problems, challenges Metalib was experienced complicated Lack of searchable databases that are suitable for public libraries Lack of licenced databases for public libraries Configurations for free materials? Small public libraries miss the expertise LS not necessarily standardized – costs for libraries to integrate local resources Technical problems (more than expected) Usability?

15. The National Library of Finland Possibilities… Consistency (search interface, search results) Tailoring, customizing (not easy though) Can replace link/database lists Descriptions of databases are useful Possibility to use effective search techniques