Effects of the digitization to the printed collection policies. The digital knowledge economy and the Finnish academic libraries
| Published date | 14 March 2017 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/LM-01-2017-0004 |
| Pages | 167-174 |
| Date | 14 March 2017 |
| Author | Jarmo Saarti,Markku Antero Laitinen,Pentti Vattulainen |
Effects of the digitization to the
printed collection policies
The digital knowledge economy and the
Finnish academic libraries
Jarmo Saarti
University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland
Markku Antero Laitinen
University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, and
Pentti Vattulainen
National Repository Library, Kuopio, Finland
Abstract
Purpose –The recent changes in the knowledge economy and scientific knowledge dissemination have put
academic libraries in a new situation. The demand for open access of scientific publications and the increasing
amount of documents published need a new paradigm in the collection policies and collection building
strategies of the academic libraries. At the same time the resources allocated to the academic institutions have
been decreasing which has caused the need to reallocate the resources in the collection building and
management as effectively as possible. The purpose of this paper is to analyse how the use of data compiled
from different sources, such as statistics and assessing user experience, as a tool for analysing the
effectiveness of the library’s economic resources and how this has effected on the use of the libraries.
Design/methodology/approach –Statistical and trend analysis based on Finnish academic library
collections database.
Findings –The Finnish academic libraries have made a rapid transition to the digital dissemination of
documents. At the same time the national services have enabled the long-time preservation of less used
printed materials and have enabled the libraries to save premise costs.
Research limitations/implications –Modeling the findings to other countries maybe difficult because of
the specific characteristics of the Finnish academic environment.
Practical implications –Gives examples on managing the shift from a printed to a digital library.
Originality/value –Evidence based tools for collection cost management.
Keywords Finland, Academic libraries, Statistics, Evaluation, Digitalization, Cost-effectiveness
Paper type Case study
1. The digital knowledge economy and the academic libraries
The operational environment of the academic institutions is evolving rapidly and this also has
had an effect on the role and services of th e academic libraries. The digital environment of
science has meant that the researchers have tools to search and disseminate their results in a
manner that is totally novel in the human history. The digitalization of both present and past
documentsand new peer-to-peer environmentsare starting to change therole of the academic
libraries ways how academics disseminate their own results and utilise documented scientific
information (Muhonen and Saarti, 2016). At the same time the requirement for an open, digital
science have grown and given new tasks for the academic libraries to manage.
This has meantthat the libraries have startedto implement new types of servicestrategies
and ways how to managetheir collections. (see e.g. Muhonenet al., 2014; Choy and Goh, 2016).
The collection policies have evolved towards a vision ofshared printed collections, especially
when considering the older printed resources. At the same time the digital resources have
increased both in volume but especially costs-wise. However, digital resources have not
Library Management
Vol. 38 No. 2/3, 2017
pp. 167-174
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0143-5124
DOI 10.1108/LM-01-2017-0004
Received 7 January 2017
Revised 7 January 2017
Accepted 23 January 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0143-5124.htm
The paper in based on a presentation at the QQML 2016 conference, London.
167
Effects of the
digitization
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