National Infrastructures Supporting Discoverability and Approachability of Research-Based Information – A Case from the Finna Services
Creators: name: Peltonen, Riitta
name: Mujunen, Veera
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Parallel Session 3 – Find and Seek: building and preserving collections
open access
repositories
research-based information

description: Abstract In this presentation we provide a case example of how the National Library of Finland (NatLibFi), in collaboration with Finnish library network, use the Finna infrastructure to promote and make research-based information in Finnish OA publications more discoverable and approachable to researchers and students as well as the general public. Finna is a group of different services developed and maintained in the NatLibFi. The national search site Finna.fi combines all the content coming from over 450 Finnish libraries, archives, museum and publication repositories. Finna is also a platform service for content providers to build their collection search services or web libraries on. NatLibFi is responsible for the Finna platform development whereas the other organisations are responsible for providing the content. We present how we created a new contract model in order to include repositories from new types of organisations into the Finna index. The new model enabled inclusion of OA repositories of the Finnish state research institutes. This is an example of how NatLibFi as a node organisation needed to take up new responsibilities to enable progress. We elaborate how these publications are made available in both, the national Finna.fi portal and in the search services of other libraries. Most Finnish library websites are built on top of the Finna platform and one of the key features of Finna-based web libraries can add databases from the Finna index into their own search service. This enables making the publications available where the readers are, whether they are students, scholars or a wider audience. We discuss how Finna services and the network of libraries collaborated to make these publications more approachable to the general public. With approachability we mean that in addition to making the publications available and accessible, they are also presented in places and ways that make it easy for the audience to start exploring them. Marketing is also part of the process. This means taking up new responsibilities for all parties in the collaboration. When operating in this kind of networked environment of shared responsibilities, one major challenge is how to innovate and push something new to happen. The participating organisations’ collective decisions, contribution and in-depth expertise in their content offering are necessities for the progress, but structures and facilitation are also needed. Through our presentation, we give examples of initiatives that we as a node organisation took and where co-creation methods were essential to push the collaboration into new areas. We are taking steps towards something new that can help in bringing research-based information a step or two closer to the general public and make it more approachable for them. In the current time of misinformation, this is more crucial than ever. Quote from Ray Bradbury “You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them” talks about culture. This goes for scientific information too.