The National Library of Finland Bulletin 2016 HOME EDITORIAL ABOUT The National Library of Finland Bulletin 2016 EDITORIAL Speech by Jenni Haukio, spouse of the President Kai Ekholm of the Republic of Finland, at the inaugural event What is the next of the National Library of Finland on 1 March technological 2016 revolution… that will override all The grand opening celebration of the National other revolutions? Library after its five-year renovation was held on the first of March 2016. The spouse of President Sauli Read more >> Niinistö, Mrs Jenni Haukio, opened the Library to the public and gave a touching speech. This is Mrs Haukio’s speech in its entirety as well as some photos from the celebration. Liber 2016 inHelsinki Read more about Freely accessible minority language resources online the event >> In 2016, the National Library of Finland will carry out the Digitisation Project of Minority Languages funded by a The Interviews>> grant from the Kone Foundation. By Jussi-Pekka Hakkarainen The Aviisi project: the golden century of newspapers put to new use The Aviisi project makes digitised copyrighted newspapers available more extensively than required by current legislation. By Pirjo Karppinen The National Library of Finland Bulletin 2016 COMHIS – Computational History and the Transformation of Public Discourse in Finland, 1640–1910 Providing qualitative understanding of historical phenomena and developing generic research methodologies with the help of digitised newspapers. By Mikko Tolonen Commemorating the centennial of the birth of Georg Henrik von Wright June 2016 marks the centennial of the birth of Finnish philosopher Georg Henrik von Wright (1916−2003). By Risto Vilkko The Finna API gives developers access to Finnish cultural heritage Finna.fi, a service offering diverse material from Finnish archives, libraries and museums, published its API, api.finna.fi, in February 2016. By Timo Laine, Maria Virtanen EUDAT – European Data Infrastructure The European Commission has a long tradition of supporting the creation of shared information services. By Juha Hakala Coactus gothorum, ac vandalorum furor (The fury of the Goths and the Vandals) Did the Hakkapeliitta pillage the Strahov Monastery Library in Prague in 1648? By Mika Hakkarainen The National Library’s strategy for 2016–2020 Change through digital services and openness – National Library services open to all. By Dorrit Gustafsson OTHER LIBRARY NEWS The National Library of Finland Bulletin 2016 Kristiina Hormia-Poutanen joins EU’s Open Science Policy Platform Sibelius’ manuscripts to the National Library Estate of Toini and Heikki Suomalainen donate Cosmographie from 1652 to the National Library http://blogs.helsinki.fi/natlibfi-bulletin/[9.8.2016 12:16:30] EDITORIAL | The National Library of Finland Bulletin 2016 HOME EDITORIAL ABOUT EDITORIAL What is the next technological revolution by Kai Ekholm … that will override all other revolutions? This issue has been on my mind for some decades now. At least we at the National Library of Finland take it almost for granted that we are at the forefront of developments in our field. We have encountered numerous innovations in the field of information technology, have adapted to them, and have learned to apply many routine procedures (such as descriptive cataloguing, OPAC, lending systems and electronic journals). In fact, we have led a number of paradigm shifts, including the introduction of electronic journals in the mid-1990s. Digitisation is a logical continuation of this paradigm, as are e-books and the management and extension of rights to researchers and the public at large. We safeguard the digital rights of our customers. If we do not negotiate more extensive rights, no-one else will. Creating an infrastructure around all of this, and managing digital libraries and their user rights, fall self-evidently within our realm of duties. National libraries will discuss these issues at the annual Conference of Directors of National Libraries, to be held in connection with the upcoming conference of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions. What solutions have been reached with regard to the vast resources of the Library of Congress, how can we create partnerships in this increasingly commercial world, and how can we acquire rights, funding and wider access to these resources? Indeed, I am eagerly waiting to hear the response of Brewster Kahle, the founder of Internet Archive, to the question in the heading above. We must increasingly lend an ear to the undertakings of the business world. If you can’t beat them, join them. What counts is perseverance and success. This has been the secret of libraries thus far. Kai Ekholm, Director, Professor National Library of Finland The National Library of Finland Bulletin 2016 HOME EDITORIAL ABOUT Speech by Jenni Haukio, spouse of the President of the Republic of Finland, at the inaugural event of the National Library of Finland on 1 March 2016 Dear guests, “On the door to the temple of literature it says: education and enlightenment. These we must live up to as human beings. Not only does literature depict life and circumstances, it also supports education and encourages enlightenment.” These are the words of Rietrikki Polén, a Fennoman and the first ever to defend a dissertation in Finnish, back in 1858. Education and enlightenment. Right here, at the National Library of Finland – the architectural masterpiece of Carl Ludwig Engel and the heart of the nation’s memory – these two words encapsulate it all. The recently renovated National Library,whose inauguration we now celebrate, is a unique example of construction history, as well as a modern cultural and service institute, which preserves and promotes our literary cultural heritage.in 1640. The National Library, which until 2006 served as the University of Helsinki’s main library, boasts a long history stretching back to the establishment of the Royal Academy of Turku The Library’s history is linked to both that of the Kingdom of Sweden and that of the Russian Empire. The National Library’s impressive main building is one of the most famous representatives of Empire architecture in Finland and one of Engel’s most highly appreciated works. The main building was completed in 1845 and its annex, designed by Gustaf Nyström, in 1906. The National Library of Finland Bulletin 2016 During its more than 170 years of service, the National Library has been renovated with great care and respect for the original design. This was also the case in the latest renovation, completed in late 2015, which improved the accessibility and functionality of the library facilities and modernised the building services. To mention a couple ofillustrative examples of the challenges involved in the National Library’s conservation: the restorers used erasers to bring out the specular highlights of the painted decorations in the semicircular recesses of the Cupola Hall and examined the cupola by tapping it inch by inch to produce a diagram of the cracks based on the resulting sounds. “Conservators from different fields worked on their own projects side by side with construction workers responsible for the less painstaking procedures. All parties showed mutual respect for one another despite the schedule being tight and different work phases overlapping,” says architect Kati Winterhalter, who served as the conservation coordinator in the Library’s renovation project. Strong solidarity and uncompromising mutual respect have always led to success in Finland – and did so again. Rakennuslehti magazine nominated the National Library’s renovation project its 2014 construction site of the year. Dear inaugural guests, the National Library of Finland being described as one of the world’s most beautiful libraries aptly symbolises the general significance of libraries to our nation. Libraries are at the core of our success story. Throughout the decades, Finns have placed their hopes on education – believing that learning and education are the only path to a better future. Around one in three Finns reads at least one book a month. In 2014 the National Library received over 70,000 physical and over one million virtual visits. The number of library loans in all of Finland totalled nearly 70 million. Were it not for the system of public libraries which evolved in the early 20th century we would hardly be the nation of readers we are today. And had we not become a reading nation we would hardly figure among the world’s top countries in nearly all surveys of wellbeing and competitiveness. Dear inaugural guests, To reiterate the quote by Rietrikki Polén that I started with: education and enlightenment, these we must live up to as human beings. I strongly agree. Our only chance to uphold humanity is to live up to education and enlightenment and look after our cultural heritage, Compromising humanity can have dire consequences on cultural heritage, as can be seen in Syria, where, according to some estimates, nearly all of the country’s Unesco World Heritage Sites are under threat of destruction or have already been partly destroyed. Although Syria, Iraq and many other deeply devastating crises around the world are far removed from our stable Nordic peace, they serve to remind us that in this age nothing is as certain as uncertainty. We have come to take both our global and our national cultural heritage for granted, something that is automatically safeguarded. The National Library of Finland Bulletin 2016 We have taken for granted that our museums stay open, that the collections of libraries and archives accumulate and that existing monuments are maintained and new ones are erected. This is fortunately still true today, and hopefully will remain true in the future as well. It appears, however, that our modern society no longer has any sacrosanct areas that the scarcity of resources would leave untouched. We truly need to promote culture now – perhaps more than ever before.