Conference

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Conference Virtual Library

• In Brüssel 16th October 2002
• Mr. Kari Lämsä kari.lamsa_at_hel.fi
• Cable Book Library
• Helsinki City Library, Finland

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Lasipalatsi Film and Media Centre(Glass Palace)

• built in 1936
• owned by the City of Helsinki
• renovated in 1998
• funded by EU Urban Pilot Project
• about 1,5 million visitors per year
• 4500 m², about 20 leaseholders

• platform for new technological innovations
• meeting point of all kinds of people

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Culture and Entertainments

• European cinema
• Book on Demand
• Helsinki Festival
• TV studios
• cafés, restaurants
• multimedia shops

• cultural events
• changing exhibitions

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Information offices

• Youth Information Centre
• Culture Info ticets
• Europe Information
• Information for Swedish speakers
• Health and Social Services Info
• City Library
• Information events like files open

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• located in the heart of Helsinki, between railway
  and bus stations

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• lobby of the cinema

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• there are many free touch screen Internet kiosks
  everywhere in the building
• kiosks are used always when the Glass Palace is
  open
• digital info-points
• most information offices have also public
  internet

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Cable Book Library

• founded in 1994 at the old cable factory
• one of the 37 Helsinki City libraries
• specialized in Internet and IT services
• operated in Lasipalatsi since 1998

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• 300 m² lobby
• opening hours Mon-Thu 10 -22, Sat-Sun 12 18
• staff 11 persons
• customers over 1000 per day
• selected collection
• 120 magazines and newspapers
• 21 workstations for customers
• furniture movable and easy to convert
• e-mail computers in the joint lobby

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• when the library is closed, the lobby functions
  as the Glass Palace's joint common room

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• the lobby's furniture packed inside the library

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• all furniture are equipped with wheels that can
  be locked
• for two to three persons it takes about fifteen
  minutes to move the furniture and start the
  computers

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• the lobby ready, computer times will be given
  when the library opens
• in magazine shelves of the lobby you will find
  newspapers and general magazines

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• the library is 60 metres long and five metres
  wide
• workstations are bounded by shelves to a separate
  area
• the use of mobile phones and noisy behaviour are
  forbidden at the workstations
• there is plenty of space for photos and other
  materials at the multimedia computers
• the building's conservation as a hindrance

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• Table elements can be connected in many ways, the
  elements are connected with quick latches

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Staff

• Library Manager
• IT Librarian
• 3 IT Specialists
• 3 Library Assistants
• Apprenticeship Student
• 2 persons undergoing non-military service
• students as covers

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• the average age of the staff is about 30 years.
• work in three shifts
• everybody does everything
• trains staff from other libraries
• participates in further education and updating
  training plus various courses
• involved in many projects, e.g. internet

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Collection

• non-fiction
• media
• travel books
• IT and Internet
• film and photography
• comics
• cd-rom
• dvd
• newspapers and magazines
• databases

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Themes of the magazines

• IT and internet
• image processing and publishing
• media
• film
• photography
• music
• comics
• travel
• lifestyle magazines and general magazines

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Software and Equipments

• Windows, Macintosh and Linux
• Office
• image processing
• editing and publishing
• slide scanners, photo scanners and flatbed
  scanners
• greyscale and colour printers
• licenses for various databases, encyclopedias and
  dictionaries
• automatic deletion of temporary files and caches

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• customers can also connect their own laptops to
  the library network
• the network is protected by a firewall and virus
  protection
• especially popular among students and
  freelancers
• wireless connection enables the use of internet
  even in the joint terrace of the library and the
  café

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Customers

• 0ver 1000 customers per day
• immigrants and foreigners 40
• 16-30 age 60
• percentage of females 40
• percentage of students 40
• groups learning to use Internet, e.g. unemployed,
  adult students, immigrants

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How often do you go to a library?
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How important is the help of the staff in the use
of workstations and web services?
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Why to come?

• location easy to come, easy to stay
• free of chargespend time, no money
• activities cafes, clubs, films...
• Informationprinted, virtual, personal
• facilitiescomfortable, safe, well equipped
• staffcommunicative, helpful, skilful

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Co-operation

• leaseholders of the Glass Palace have a
  co-operative group of their own
• Commercial partners in various projects and
  events, inter alia Nokia, Sony, Cisco
• most important partners
• The Youth Department of City of Helsinki
• The Cultural Office of City of Helsinki
• The International Cultural Centre Caisa

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Multicultural alliance

• Info Bank for immigrants
• International Cultural Centre Caisa
• Cultural Office of Helsinki City
• Cable Book Library
• Central Multilingual Library
• Youth Information Centre
• immigration offices and societies carrying out
  immigration and multicultural work
• Funded by the European Social Fund
• Project Duration Time 2002-2003

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• How to find, decode and act?

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• editorial staff direct questions to the right
  institutions
• questions and answers are stored to a database
• frequently asked question will automatically be
  found in database
• The service will be carried out in all most used
  immigrant languages

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iGS - Information Gas Station
iGS is designed to be a movable information
station in two parts self service pumps and a
double-sided service unit. People can come to the
station with their questions and problems or they
can send questions to the station by email, SMS
and chat.
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Project

• Funded by the Access to Learning Award (Bill
  Melinda Gates foundation, 2000)
• total budget 350 000
• planning 10
• device, furniture 20
• staff 50
• rents etc. 20
• Project Duration Time 2001-2002

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iGS starting points

• 1. Promote information service

2. Modernize a public librarys image
3. Establish a place and premices for personal
face to face service
4. Test mobility
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Information service
Ask anything

• Widen the range of librarish information needs
• Find new user groups
• young
• busy
• others who normally cannot visit a library

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Librarys image

• A library without books
• traditional image of a library shelves,
  collections, classifications
• test can we run a public library without books
  and collections?

• To advertise modern public libraries and make
  them visible
• bright red design
• silly brand to be remembered

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Personal Service

• Self-service is the trend of today
• lending, payment etc.

• Everybody can search information?
• all information by Google?
• we dont need libraries in future?

• Still need for information professionals
• oversupply of information
• licenced resources and databases
• peoples routine ways on their information
  behaviour
• demand for knowledge on possibilities and
  effective or many-sided ways of search
• - public libraries task to promote information
  literacy

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• Traditional model
• librarian is a gatekeeper

• iGS model
• librarian is a consult
• in learning and training

• Customer have tos decide which information is
  relevant
• -gtat every phase of search process (not only
  final results)

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Mobility

• Mobile service at virtual
• customers information need arise on the road
  and they want to send questions from anywhere

• Movable unit
• we move along the road
• to places we are needed

• iGS on tour
• Lasipalatsi Film and Media Centre
• Service Houses for Senior Citizens
• Railwaystations
• Fairs and exhibitions
• Next shopping centers

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iGS arrivals by lorry
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Construct of two identic elements
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Model of neon ligth from old Gas Station
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In one hour construction is ready
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Connection via cable, ADSL, WLAN
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Helsinki Central Railway Station

• Media-happening, radio, TV, newspapers
• 30 visits/day, 20-25 virtual questions/ day
• Cold, windy, arctic and noicy
• Very rewarding and interesting
• no troubles with customers

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Media profiles
Most popular categories in 2001

• Visits
• 1. Internet and email 24
• 2. Software 13
• 3. iGS 10
• 4. Computers 5
• 5. Helsinki 4
• 6. Tourism 4
• N 991

Email 1. Music 7 2. Transport 5 3. Economy
and business 4 4. Writers, litterature 4 5.
Language and words 4 6. Health, medicin 4
N978
SMS 1. Music 6 2. Transport 5 3. Health 5 4.
Language and words 5 5. Economy and business
4 6. People 3 N623
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Conclusions

• Easy, quick ways for information services are
  needed
• We did not know how people see librarys image
  and scope of competence
• Some questions could never have been made by the
  library desk
• customers have different backgrounds
• what kind of information is most valuable for the
  customer readymade facta or learning the ways
  how to mine and refine information?
• --gt some need facta
• --gt some dont have time to learn how to search

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Team

• team of 10 persons chosen from the staff of City
  Library
• 2 persons work at same time
• rest of time they work on their own libraries,
  but can answer to virtual questions
• in the begining we arranged special training for
  them to update their skills with digital and
  networked information search
• experiences transfer in a natural way to the
  everyday life and enrich their home libraries

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Future

• How may the next generation of iGS look like?
• mobility more easy to move
• security more safe
• more compact -- modular structure
• wireless connections (today not stable enough)

• SMS protocol replaced by new
• in future other mobile, portable and light
  devices
• from short messages to multimedia messages

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Useful links

• Cable Book Libaryhttp//kirjakaapeli.lib.hel.fi/i
  ndex-en.html
• Helsinki City Libraryhttp//www.lib.hel.fi/englis
  h/
• Lasipalatsi Media Centrehttp//www.lasipalatsi.fi
  /english/
• iGS information Gas Stationhttp//igs.kirjastot
  .fi/index3.html
• Questionnaire Concerning the Use of
  Workstations http//www.lib.hel.fi/julkaisut/juna
  /english.htm