The Kaisa House celebrated the 10th anniversary of its opening in September. The library is celebrating its anniversary during the academic year 2022-2023, and invited the university community and other customers to celebrate with us - with the power of knowledge.
In November, the Library's anniversary seminar reflected on the changing learning environments of the university community. Rector Sari Lindblom gave the welcome speech and the keynote speaker was Jeremy Upton, Director of Library & University Collections at the University of Edinburgh.
Professor h.c. Kaisa Sinikara, who served as University Librarian at Helsinki University Library from 2010 to 2013, has spent the last few years focusing on historical research. The result of this work is a history book entitled Tiedeyhteisön kumppanina: Laitoskirjastoista Helsingin yliopiston kirjastoksi 1828–2012 (Partnering with the Scientific Community: From Departmental Libraries to the University of Helsinki Library 1828-2012) sheds light on the development of the scientific libraries from the professor-run departmental libraries to one Helsinki University Library.
Avoimella otteella (With an Open Approach) is Helsinki University Library's podcast, where academics who use open access channels in their teaching or to publish their research talk about essential topics in open science. The podcast is hosted by the library's information specialist Aleksi Peura.
The podcast's first season was launched as part of the library's anniversary year in September 2022, and the production will continue for a second season in spring 2023. The podcast is available in Finnish.
Lic. Minna Niemi-Grundström started as University Librarian of the Helsinki University Library in August 2022. As University Librarian, Minna Niemi-Grundström sees strong customer understanding and building new forms of collaboration as important tools for ensuring that the library can continue to provide appropriate services for the needs of a multidisciplinary university.
The services provided by Helsinki University Library are of a high international standard, and the library can rightly be considered a pioneer in the reform of academic library services.
Minna's predecessor, University Librarian Kimmo Tuominen, served as Director of Helsinki University Library for nine years before moving on to lead the National Library of Finland in June 2022.
The results of the National Open Science 2022 follow-up survey were published at the end of October. The results show that the promotion of open science at the University of Helsinki is at a very good level. In terms of open access publications and research data and infrastructure, the university's promotion is at an excellent level. There is still room for improvement, though, especially in the area of open learning.
The theme for International Open Access Week 2022 was "Open for Climate Justice". At the University of Helsinki, the theme of Open Science Week was the Baltic Sea. During the Open Science Afternoon in ThinkCorner, a multidisciplinary panel discussed the role of open science in raising climate awareness [linkki]. To mark the week, the library published a Baltic Sea themed collection in Helka. [linkki]
The University Open Science Award was given to HiLIFE and The Helsinki Term Bank for the Arts and Sciences (HTB). [linkki]
Themed collections are curated by the Library's specialists [linkki], and they offer a selection of books, journals and other information sources on various current topics.
Themed collections can be found in Helka's main navigation menu. [linkki]
During the Open Science Week in October, library experts were available to meet at special Open Access cafés [linkki] on all university campuses. Students could come and have a cup of coffee or tea and talk to the open science experts about open access publishing, choosing trusted publishing channels, or issues such as data management.
Regular Meet The Librarian visits make the library's range of services more accessible in the other university facilities, where researchers, teachers and students spend their days. The library tailors these visits to best suit the community they are visiting.
Helsinki University Library customers responded to an extensive survey in November 2022. Overall satisfaction with the library's services was very high: more and more people gave the library a perfect score.
The expectations and wishes of the library customers were examined in terms of both digital library services and the services offered in learning environments on university campuses. The expectations and wishes of researchers were addressed separately.
In 2022, the library established a Sustainability Team. The team's mission is to review the library's processes and their development with a focus on sustainability. The team also develops sustainability reporting in the library.
The team's first assignments are the creation of a Safer Space Policy for library facilities and events, and an assessment of the accessibility of library services as part of the university's accessibility assessment.
The challenge for a diverse community such as university is how to promote a sense of belonging and psychological safety for all people. From the perspective of gender and sexual minorities, the Pride Week event in June 2022 explored ways in which we can create inclusive practices and spaces where everyone feels safe and secure and part of the university community.
During Pride month, the library showcased rainbow literature from its collections, as it does every year. [linkki]