Presentation in QQML2018 in Chania

1. Evaluating and developing public libraries in
national and municipal perspective
- Tools used and provided by Regional
Administrative Agencies
Antti Seppänen
QQML 2018
Chania
24.5.2018Antti Seppänen 1

2. Public libraries in Finland
 Part of municipal services, about 1-2 % of their
annual budget
 Yearly 314 Milj. € = 57,30 € per inhabitants
 Mandatory by law for every municipality
– 311 munincipalities (of which 107 cities)
– about 700 libraries and 120 mobile libraries
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Population density in Finnish municipalities person per km2 2016
Source:
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Suomi.v%C3%A4est%C3%B6tiheys.2016.svg

3. Challenge: decreasing use of services and increasing of
expenditures
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Source:NationalPublicLibrarystatisticsinFinland2016
http://visualisointi.kirjastot.fi/tilastot/#!/en

4. Public libraries have several roles
 Part of
– Municipalities <= strategies of municipalities
– National network of public libraries <= national library policy
– Regional network of consortiums <= regional library strategies
 Sometimes goals or priorities are different
=> Different kinds of assessment are needed
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5. Regional Administrative Agencies
 Six agencies
 Administrative Agencies are responsible by law for:
1) helping to implement the objectives of the national
library policy on public libraries within their area
of operation;
2) monitoring and evaluating the operations of
the public libraries within their area of operation;
3) promoting the local, regional, national and
international development projects of the public
libraries; and
4) performing any other duties assigned to them
by the Ministry of Education and Culture.
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Source:https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aluehallintovirastot.2010.svg
Source: Public Libraries Act: https://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/2016/en20161492

6. Objectives of Public Libraries Act (2017)
 https://www.finlex.fi/en/laki/kaannokset/2016/en20161492
The objectives of this Act are to promote:
1) equal opportunities for everyone to access education and culture;
2) availability and use of information;
3) reading culture and versatile literacy skills;
4) opportunities for lifelong learning and competence development;
5) active citizenship, democracy and freedom of expression.
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7. Tasks of Public Libraries in Public Libraries Act (2017)
Public libraries are tasked with:
1) providing access to materials, information and cultural contents;
2) maintaining versatile and up-to-date collections;
3) promoting reading and literature;
4) providing information services, guidance and support in the acquisition and use
of information and in versatile literacy skills;
5) providing premises for learning, recreational activities, working, and civic
activities;
6) promoting social and cultural dialogue.
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8. National tools for assessment and development provided by
Regional Administrative Agencies
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Tool Timeframe
Statistics Yearly
Evaluation of basic services Every second year
Customer survey Every third year
Development project funding Yearly
Updating education Several times in a year

9. National Public Library Statistics
 Online database since 1999
 Gathered from municipalities by regional agencies
 Published every April
 Municipal, regional and national levels
 http://visualisointi.kirjastot.fi/tilastot/#!/en and http://tilastot.kirjastot.fi/?lang=en
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10. Statistics: Music and Movies
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Source:NationalPublicLibrarystatisticsinFinland2016
http://visualisointi.kirjastot.fi/tilastot/#!/en

11. Statistics: Opening hours
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https://goo.gl/CDkGpU
Source:NationalPublicLibrarystatisticsinFinland2016
http://visualisointi.kirjastot.fi/tilastot/#!/en

12. Evaluation of Basic Services
 Libraries as basic services: ”Local authorities, i.e. municipalities, are responsible
for organizing the operations of public libraries. They may organize the public
library operations independently or in cooperation with other municipalities or in
some other manner.”
 Has been made 2000-2018 every second year
Themes
 Accessibility of public libraries 2016
 Services for children 2018
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13. 24.5.2018Antti Seppänen 13
77%
71%
67%
66%
61%
36%
35%
22%
15%
14%
13%
11%
7%
6%
6%
5%
5%
4%
3%
1%
22%
22%
17%
30%
31%
38%
43%
16%
75%
11%
27%
51%
46%
58%
43%
21%
21%
22%
3%
35%
1%
7%
16%
4%
7%
25%
22%
62%
10%
75%
59%
38%
46%
36%
51%
74%
74%
74%
94%
64%
LI B RA RY US E TE A CHI NG
FAI RYTALE TELLI NG
RE A DI NG DI P LOMS
I NFORMA TI ON RE TRI E V A L S K I LLS TE A CHI NG
B OOK TA LK S
THE ME P A CK A GE S FOR K I NDE RGA RTE N
THEME PACKAGES FOR SCHOOLS
RE A DI NG THE RA P Y DOG
A UTHOR V I S I TS
RE A DI NG GROUP S
MOV I E S
GA ME S
P UP E T THE A TRE
MUS I C HA P P E NI NGS
E DUCA TI ON FOR P A RE NTS
P I CTURE , MUS I C, B OOK S TA LK S
HA P P E NI NGS FOR B A B I E S
E DUCA TI ON FOR A UTHORS
HOME W ORK CLUB
A RTI S TI C W ORK SHOPS
FORMS OF ACTIVITIES IN LIBRARIES TO PROMOTE CHILDRENS LITERACY
AND READING IN FINNISH LIBRARIES 2017
Regulary Occasionaly No service
Source:Basicservicesevaluation2018(willbepublishedinJune2018)

14. National Customer Survey
 2008, 2010, 2013 and 2018
 Now first time with regional agencies
 Results in September 2018
 Pilot results 2017 from Southern Carelia
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15. 24.5.2018Antti Seppänen 15
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
Helped me find the information I need
Improved my IT skills
Encouraged me to read more
Provided new ideas and contents for my
leisure time and recreational activities
Increased my social contacts
Improved the quality of my life
How the services provided by the library you rated
have affected your work, studies or other activities?
Source:Nationalcustomersurveypilot2017(SouthernCarelia),
n=722,NationalresultswillbepublishedinSeptember2018

16. Development Project Funding
 Every year approx. 2 700 000 €
 Funding from Ministry of Education and Culture to Regional Agencies
 Regional Agencies fund municipalities through government transfers
 Municipalities make applications through online system
 Visualization of projects: http://visualisointi.kirjastot.fi/hankkeet/#!/en
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17. 24.5.2018Antti Seppänen 17
Source:NationalFinnishPublicLibraryProjectRegister
http://visualisointi.kirjastot.fi/hankkeet/#!/en

18. Updating Education
 Regional Administrative Agencies have organized updating education about
several subjects including knowledge management (KM), development projects
and statistics.
 Several sessions about library statistics and KM in 2017 and 2018:
– ½ day: Library statistics (8 sessions)
– 1-2 days: Basics of knowledge management and information sources for public libraries (3
sessions)
 Nation wide coverage (partly streamed and possibility to see recordings)
 Participants: approx. 250 librarians
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19. Conclusion
 Tools provided helps in many levels: national, regional and municipal
 Methods and principles of knowledge management or strategic management are
not widely used in libraries => role of assessment is not always recognised
 Use of tools varies a lot
 Education needed to promote use
 Libraries have many more data sources.
– Problem is not the scarcity of data but the amount of it
– Education and help needed to combine data and analyse it
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20. Thank you!
Regional State Administrative Agency
for Southern Finland
Senior library advisor
Antti Seppänen
antti.seppanen@avi.fi
Tel: +358 295 016 354
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