The Finnish library and information system and information policy: Planning, administration and financing

Abstract

The library and information system in Finland has been going through a period ot quick and major modernisation. Rather than under centralised control, the independency ot libraries has been growing, accompanied by an increasing financial support of university libraries. Although the responsibility for the library and information policy in general is born by the Ministry of Education, the development trends are determined by the libraries themselves. In this respect, they receive asistance from the advisory board of the Ministry (TINFO), from the Automation Unit of Research Libraries, and from the National Library. The latest information policy considerations are overviewed, like the CD-ROM edition of the Finnish national bibliography, the registration of the material for the national bibliography by creating a common national cataloguing system, the establishment of two new branches of the Helsinki University Library in Kotka and in Mikkeli, for retrospective catalogue conversion into computer readable form, and for microfilming and conservallon, respectively.