University of Helsinki
The National Library of Finland will gradually open up its data from 2015 to 2017 in line with the Government’s policies. A plan for opening up metadata in 2015–2017 already exists, and a scheme for content data is in the makings.
By Nina Hyvönen and Osma Suominen, Library Network Services, the National Library of Finland
A 2011 government resolution defined policies regarding the accessibility of digital public-sector information resources. According to the resolution, information produced with public funding must be openly accessible and reusable under clear and common conditions that are the same for all. In May 2013, the Open Data Programme was launched to boost the resolution’s implementation.
“Open metadata for joint use” is one of the National Library’s strategic spearheads.
“Open metadata for joint use” is one of the National Library’s strategic spearheads. The Library’s goal is to make its bibliographic metadata and authorised descriptions openly and freely available as widely as possible, taking into consideration any restrictions based on copyright and related rights, data protection and agreements. In future, the copyright-free material digitised by the Library will also be published as widely possible.
In 2015–2017, the National Library will construct a service for linked open data (data.kansalliskirjasto.fi), which will serve as the Library’s data catalogue and open-data publication platform for bibliographic data. It will include descriptions of the open data and resources, as well as documentation related to the opening process. The open-data service will first be launched as a prototype to gain experience and collect feedback. It is difficult to decide on definitive modelling solutions at this stage since the international BIBFRAME data model, which will replace the MARC formats, and the related information systems are still under development and the RDA rules have not yet been fully adopted. After the first data have been published (2016–2017), development will also focus on linkage to external sources, such as corresponding bibliographic data in the national libraries of other countries.
The National Library has previously published its thesauri and dataset of Finnish corporate names in the Finto service.