Helsinki University Library started its automation development in 1971 with the Finnish Union Catalogue of Serials (FINUC-S), which still exists. Similar efforts were made alsó by a number of other libraries, although most of the projects did not last very long or survive to the present day. It was discovered very soon that
Gondolatok a könyvtárban "
there would be no future for library automation in the country if every library had to try to find the solutions alone. A better way seemed to be a joint develop-ment which could be reached with the help of a task force serving the needs of all research libraries because
— it was obvious that individual libraries would not be able to acquire expertise nor resources enough to start a system development of their own
— it was felt that there was a risk of the individual local systems being incompatible with each other
— a similar policy had at that time been chosen in neighbouring Sweden; in the Swedish LIBRIS individual libraries were to be connected through telephone lines to a central database.
To make a long story short, a fairly thorough study on future automation development in Finnish research libraries was prepared in 1972. Several solutions were examined but the Swedish approach was felt to be the most suitable also for Finnish conditions. In addition to the proposal to build up an integrated computerized library system, the report stressed the importance of compatibility with other library systems, a principle which since then has remained one of the main features of library automation in Finnish research libraries.
In 1974 the Ministry of Education set up a task force and hired two systems analysts to start to prepare the proposed solution. Things, however, did not proceed according to plans. One could say that the plan was premature. Seen afterwards it was quite obvious, that Finland had not yet advanced far enough on its way towards a computerized society to discover the need of a large computer system for library use. Moreover, an economic depression did not allow investments of that scale in research libraries. So, the development work had to find other ways which were possible but which, nevertheless, were in line with the final goal.
The task force gained more stability when it was transformed in 1979 into the Automation Unit of Finnish Research Libraries and gradually received more staff, at present 10 persons. While attempts to introduce an advanced solution for library automation had to be postponed, a pragmatic approach was chosen. All library automation systems need library catalogues in machine readable form, before anything else can be automated. It was, therefore, decided to start registering acquisitions in a number of libraries by using an offline procedure. Several "in-telligent" devices of big physical size and little capacity (4 KB RAM, replaced later by more powerful PCs) were purchased as well as a programme package, which was made available by the British Library at a low prize. Cataloguers were working in a quasi on-line environment, bibliographic records were sent on dis-kettes to the State Computer Centre where they were processed and from where the participating libraries received their catalogues on microfiche regularly. These
catalogues produced by the COM-method replaced the old card catalogues which were not continued as in many other countries; Finnish libraries quite simply did not have enough staff to run two parallel catalogues. Users very soon got ac-quainted with the new catalogues. This procedure continued up to quite recent years and it has enabled 25 libraries to have their catalogues in machine readable form.
In addition to library catalogues, the Finnish National Bibliography has from 1977 been produced by using the same software. Recording of new titles in the National Bibliography is, since 1979, carried out as a joint task divided between three legal deposit libraries, the University Libraries of Helsinki, Jyvaskyla and Turku. It would have been much simpler to produce the National Bibliography by centralized input of data, but the chosen solution, cumbersome though it was, was the only way to get the new monographic literature registered in its entirety.
The participating libraries did benefit from the arrangement, as they received their local catalogues of new Finnish literature with only a fraction of the total effort.
In addition to the catalogues on microfiche several university libraries set up local information retrieval systems mounting their catalogue data on the main-frame computer of their universities. The catalogue information was thus made accessible over the campus without additional costs for telecommunications, which was a distinct improval compared to the old card system.
Catalogue databases using the same offline programme package covered also several subject bibliographies and indexes to periodicals. In order to avoid dupli-cation of efforts, a detailed scheme was created for the input of data indicating the responsibilities of participating libraries. Databases of individual subject bib-liographies were, for information retrieval purposes, merged into one database and made available online.
The family of databases created by using the same software, i. e. library catalogues, the National Bibliography and a number of subject bibliographies are available online in the State Computer Centre under its information retrieval system MINTTU. The library databases KAUKO (joint library catalogues), KOTI (the National Bibliography) and the KATI (special bibliographies'joint database) form the KDOK family, which are the most used databases in the MINTTU system. In spite of recent development of computerized local library systems these databases will certainly for some time still be maintained by the State Computer Centre.
The products of this offline approach comprised, as already mentioned, cata-logues on microfiche and databases accessible online. A third type of products are printed catalogues and bibliographies, the Finnish National Bibliography being the largest and most demanding of them. A production line for photosetting from magnetic tape was developed in cooperation with the State Computer Centre
and the Government Printing Centre. The Finnish National Bibliography was the first major product and printing was tested in 1978-79. Since then monthly issues and an annual volume of the Bibliography have been printed regularly by this procedure.