The Finnish National Digital Library: a national service is developed in collaboration with a network of libraries, archives and museums

Abstract

The National Digital Library (NDL), as a project, aims to ensure Finnish cultural and scientific electronic materials are managed to a high standard, are easily accessible and securely preserved well into the future. The NDL is one of the key pieces of digital research and cultural infrastructure under construction in Finland. The National Library Finland (NLF) is responsible for the development of the public interface service Finna, which is part of the NDL and will also act as the national aggregator for Europeana. The NLF has decided to develop this comprehensive service based on open source components, and the development of the software is in the hands of experienced developers. In terms of challenges, the greatest challenge has to be constructing and co-ordinating the mechanisms to enable organizations' participation.