The Council for Public Libraries is a central player in the field of library work. Its task is to coordinate co-operation between public libraries on a national level, and to represent them in issues related to the activities and development of national library networks. Further joint activity between the other library networks and interest groups is a central issue. The executive organ of the council is the labour committee, which holds meetings when necessary.
Represented at the The Council for Public Libraries are the Helsinki Library, which acts as the central library for public libraries, the provincial libraries, and the representatives chosen by each provincial library region. The Central Library organizes the Council’s activities and takes care of arrangements at meetings.
The foundation for the Council’s work is a plan of activities, which is both current and amendable when necessary. It is revised on a regular basis in the Council’s meetings. New issues are registered in the operation plan, and things, which are no longer acute or have already been taken care of, are removed.
CURRENT AFFAIRS
Council for Public Libraries, YKN, Annual Report 2010:
2010 was the Council’s seventh year of operation. The Central Library organised two council meetings during the year: at the auditorium of the Pasila Library on 15 April and in Pori on 22 September. Library Director Tuula Haavisto from Tampere was appointed the chairwoman of the Council for 2010-2011.
The Council strategy, which was intended for libraries, was published in three languages (Finnish, Swedish, English) at the end of the year.
- Link
Actively involved in national projects:
National Digital Library:
- http://www.kdk.fi/en
The objective of the National Digital Library Project (KDK),which was launched by the Ministry of Education and Culture, is to introduce the accomplishments of cultureand science available to everyone, promote the online availability and usability of the resources of national importance in libraries, archives and museums and develop long-term storing solutions for electronic resources with cultural heritage.
Nationwide catalogue and Marc21:
The Council for Public Libraries (YKN) established a committee on 1 December 2009 to determine the requirements that public libraries have for the nationwide catalogue. The intention was to specify the Council’s opinion into a common guideline.
The investigation was completed according to schedule by the end of 2010. It is recommended in the report that the aim should be to introduce a nationwide catalogue for the libraries of academic universities and universities of applied sciences, special libraries and public libraries, to be maintained by the National Library.
E-readers piloted in Helsinki and Turku:
Borrowing of e-books and use of different types of e-readers were piloted in the city libraries of Helsinki and Turku in 2010 in order to gain experiences through which nationwide e-book guidelines can be formulated in future.
Preparations for the IFLA Conference continued:
Finland will host an IFLA conference in Finland in August 2012. Approximately 3 000 guests from around the world are expected to participate in the occasion. Conference preparations were already initiated in autumn 2009 when it was confi rmed that the conference will be organised in Finland.
Source: Helsinki City Library Annual Report 2010 - page 20
The council meeting in 2010 in Helsinki