Key engagement feature 

The Tampere Library has been a player in the Internet scene since the beginning. The

Library director believes it is most important that we understand the need to change our

working methods and that library staff need to be very flexible to adapt to the 

information age. The library has actively participated in the eTampere project and is

seen as a vital partner in the achievement of the Infocity program.

Tampere Library s website is located at: http://www.tampere.fi/kirjasto/english.htm

Finnish Networked Library Service

Publiclibraries.fi provides access to Finnish Networked Library Services under one user

interface. The portal serves as a starting point especially for users seeking information

about libraries, culture and information services. The Finnish Networked Library 

Services is a unit of Helsinki City Library (the central library for public libraries in 

Finland) and is financed by the Ministry of Education. The iGS is an information service

project of the Helsinki City Library that provides its patrons first and foremost with

web information services. iGS is also a place where patrons are able to get guidance in

the independent use of the web. There are two information service desks, both of which

are equipped with the most modern computers and software.

All Finnish public libraries contribute to the services by maintaining a database that

includes basic information on public libraries, by participating in the Ask A Librarian

reference service and by cataloguing new links in the Link Library service (only in

Finnish and Swedish). The services are meant to be everyday tools for library workers,

but are also available to anyone co operating with or interested in public libraries. 

The Networked Services Manager, Matti Sarmela, was a member of the Library Policy

Committee that worked for two years to identify the challenges arising in the civil

information society and seek concrete solutions to them. The resulting report is entitled

A wide range of culture and quality information retrieval in the library. (Finland, 

Ministry of Education, 2001).

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It recommends, at a national level, that libraries:

  provide information services for the citizen, and disseminate nationally produced

information,

  constitute an electronic library,

  maintain national databanks and ensure the joint use of libraries  databanks,

  produce metadata, or centralised catalogues with content descriptions,

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