Niels Ole Pors, Library Link Regional Convenor - Europe

In November 1998, the Finnish Parliament passed new legislation about libraries to take effect on 1 January 1999. The "free of charge" principle was confirmed, but much responsibility for decision-making is devolved to the local municipalities. At least two thirds of library staff must now have defined professional qualifications, and there are strict requirements for anyone in overall charge of a library.

The legislation has happened at a time of ongoing and proposed cuts in library services. The Finnish Library Association has stated that further cuts are utterly unacceptable. Libraries are fundamental to the fabric of society; they are social and cultural centres for their communities and play a vital role in preventing alienation. A national library network of the highest quality has been built over many years, and the whole structure is now under threat. Cuts are usually based on economic criteria, so they tend to focus on areas that are already economically depressed and suffering high unemployment.

The Finnish Library Journal asked two library people how they envisage the future of libraries in Finnish society. Heli Saarinen is Head of Lapland's Regional Library and chairs the Ministry of Education's consultative committee on the Information Society. One threat Saarinen sees is that values are becoming more and more market-oriented. She sees the libraries as a very important part of the coming educational society. This is also stressed in the new Act. Again she stresses the democratic nature of public institutions as safeguards to the rubbish on the Internet. As a matter of fact the social role as an educational and democratic institution will not change even if the content and the information channels change. Vesa Suominen, Department of Information Studies and Sociology at the University of Oulu stresses that there is a need for libraries working with content. The fascination of IT is understandable, but it is important to emphasise that it is only a means to an end.

It is on the basis of the severe economic conditions and an intensive debate about the library's future, its role and its place as a safeguard, that the new Act has been passed by Parliament. Some of the clauses from the Act are interesting. In the legislation it is stated that "The objective of the library and information services provided by public libraries is to promote equal opportunities among citizens for personal cultivation, for literary and cultural pursuits, for continuous development of knowledge, personal skills and civic skills, for internationalisation, and for lifelong learning. Library activities also aim at promoting the development of virtual and interactive network services and their educational and cultural contents." It looks as if IT takes on a prominent place in the Act. It is also stated that "Library users shall have access to library and information professionals, and to continually renewing library material and equipment. In a bilingual municipality, the needs of both language groups shall be taken into consideration on equal grounds. In the municipalities of the S�mi home area, the needs of both the S�mi and the Finnish language groups shall be taken into consideration on equal grounds." There is a protection of minorities built into the law. You have to acknowledge that Finland is bilingual and that it has a Sami population especially in the northern part.

The principle of access without charge is stated in the legislation. " The use of the library's own collections within the library and borrowing from them shall be free of charge. Inter-library loans issued by the central library and by the provincial libraries to public libraries shall be free of charge." More interestingly is may be that the law prescribes an ongoing evaluation of the public libraries "The purpose of the evaluation is to improve access to library and information services and to promote their development. The evaluation shall monitor the implementation of the library and information services and the quality and cost-effectiveness of the services. Each municipality is obliged to take part in evaluation referred to by this clause." One of the really interesting phenomena when looking at Laws concerning libraries at the moment is the way the problem of IT is handled and the principle of free access.

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