Local view another research infrastructure, but it's even more than research infrastructure
Good morning dear colleagues and ladies and gentlemen
I'm actually very happy to be here to have the chance to be here, and I'm happy to see so many of you here
I know that people have already left the conference those who have
started on Monday morning I
Talk about the National Digital Library of Finland, which is one of the biggest endeavors or projects
concerning
cultural heritage
Archives libraries and museums in Finland. I would say in decades
it influences practically all of these organizations and
involves many people and
Has many parts
It
For archives libraries and museums
The material digitized is included in the National Digital Library as well as the long-term
Preservation of this material, but what I'm talking today is only the public interface through which
This material can be accessed because this part this software
Is dedicated to the National Library of Finland, so we are responsible for building this
service
In the National Library of Finland we have at the moment
14 employees full-time for this project and by the end of this year there will be even a few more
So this also talks about the scale of the project
From
These people there could be
Very many viewpoints to this project
We could talk about strategies. We could talk about the technology
Perhaps the cooperation or or the metadata and the use of it
However today, I'm not talking about this. I'm so sorry
just
About the users and the work we do with them
The outline of my presentation is here
before going to the users I
Briefly describe where we stand at the moment because there has been a dramatic change
since we first sent the abstract to this conference and
I want to describe it to you then users and the work we do with them and
finally the scope or the objectives of the project briefly and
bear in mind we are now talking about only the public interface and the
the access or the software or the service through which
Users can access the material
by
The way there might be some for whom the the
Concept of a digital library is not familiar for you. I briefly
Explained that the digital library is a
Service which provides access to digital material
from various resources
It's not a portal because
Digital library includes services such as library
or the
Renewal system for books or can be integrated to web payment systems or some
or other
outside services or external services
Europeana is
The conceptual model for all European digital libraries as well as for ours
The Finnish
Digital library project started in 2008
The funding comes from the Ministry of Culture and Education
It took two and a half years to get the get the project organized planned and running
In
2010 it was September if I correctly recall
We were ready to to declare the software on which the
service would be based on and
Ex-libris group was
other product primo
discovery service primo from ex-libris group was
selected through competitive
negotiations and
Piloting started with this software
the piloting
Face was supposed to take less than six months
But it took almost 16 months
there were delays and delays and delays and
Finally by the end of
last year in December
It was obvious that primo could not
meet the requirements
Set for this project within a given time frame
So the contract was cancelled
In January this year
We were in a phase that we should have had the
Service with the first organizations already running, but we didn't even have the software
so quick
decisions new approach was needed and
The core element of the new approach was to start on open source software
We soon found out that VU find from the villain of a university would serve us best as a
core for the software
the
second element of
New approach was to use iterative and actual development methods and procedures
to get results and quickly and
the third element is
to
get
To cooperate with our partners more deeply and widely but not only with our partners
Taking coming into the project also with the open source of where development community and others
So
We intend to have the first organizations
in production by the end of this year and
the next 50 organizations are there waiting for their turn and
by
2016 we
We will have the material service that will be relevant for its users and user communities
if we look at the
The same on a time like timeline like this
It looks like this
new approach
In the beginning of this year or the end of last year the first wave means those 11 first
organizations going
Into production this year the second wave are the 50 next and after that we are expecting to have all
University libraries in Finland public libraries in Finland archives
municipal museums and
state museums in
One after another into the service
and
Such an ambitious and challenging project needs a good justification
Doesn't it and of course from the Ministry of Culture and Education they?
Clearly think of economical reasons to start such an end of it
but
user needs have been in their mind and our mind from the very beginning and
therefore
there has been
Resources reserved for users and their needs and what to do with them on the the work to do with them
from the very beginning
as
The approach changed we had to change the way we do this work as well
And here I have three aspects of the work
first of all there is the usability working group it was
Established in 2009 it has representatives from all participating
organization types archives libraries and museums and
In the beginning it worked as a normal working team having again this
paying attention or
concentrating on the
project and its
Outcomes and objectives now it seems clear that
Usability working group has to serve more as a community note point
bringing ideas from the community to the project and
also back and
It has to think about more other projects as well
than the National Digital Library project for example the the
historical newspaper archives and their uses and usage
So it has to be open to two different kinds of ideas
The second aspect is the usability plan
The working group
made the plan in 2009 and it's
Actually really good usability plan it covers all the project phases from
planning implementation to adoption and
Mature service and it has really relevant good tasks plan for the future as well
but now
the software is developed in an actual manner and the
Usability work has to be agile to we have to tune the work
with the actual actual method and therefore the plan has to be more like an
Also more like an activity great so that new impulses can be immediately
Realized
With users
And the third aspect our end users
the first usability plan
Defined our target groups and focus groups for usability activities
But now being more agile dynamic
we need to we clearly see that we need to involve our users into the project and
For this involvement me we to be able to manage it all we have to think about clustering the work
So more dynamic work
If
This way
Looking these usability activities on the timeline you see the change of pace
in 2010 and 11 we made
two
wider studies and
already
In the beginning of this year, we've had three quick agile
Tests and we plan to continue them
Till the end of this service, I would say
so we we have to be able to to
Take new impulses either from our partner organizations or
users themselves
Quick and effective analysis and tests and evaluation
Here's a picture from
Last agile test in May
To conclude with I will sum up the objectives
Although the approach has changed the objectives have not
In
June we finally got the name for the public interface the service to be seen by our users
It's called Finna
Bear this name in mind. You will hear about this
There will be one finna
Interface or VU for all
There will be University libraries finna for some
There will be museum finna for others archive finna for others
There may be a finna for a single organization and its users
And there perhaps in the future there will be a finna for literary studies as well
You can imagine that I've
Presented this these objectives quite a many times during these years and
I've heard
Several times from our
Current or prospect partner organizations that this plan is far too
ambitious
But also I've heard that this is the best they've heard in years, especially after the new approach
To both of these comments I usually reply let's do this together and
To you
I'll just say that let us
Hear of you if you feel an urge to respond to this call
Thank you for your attention