NATIONAL PROGRESS REPORT OF FINLAND 1988-1990

Helsinki University Library

• Collections Department
  The 4th volume of the catalogue of the A. E. Nordenskióld Collection has been published in 1989. This volume contains an alphabetical title index for the maps. The 5th volume of the catalogue is in preparation. This volume will contain indexes concerning book, atlas, author, person (engraver, publisher etc.), chronology and geographical name.

  The other important collection of old maps in the Helsinki University Library, the collection assembled by Foreign Minister Carl Enckell, is being photographed for video disc. The collection contains appr. 600 map sheets showing Northern areas. The sheets have been removed from atlases from 1500-1900. The video disc is produced by the German firm Belser wissenschaftlicher Dienst. The first shipment of map sheets has been sent to Stuttgart. The video disc will contain the maps as well as cataloguing data of the maps and a retrieval system.

• Bibliographic Department
  The Bibliographic Department has the responsibility of cataloguing the national material that is held as legal deposit. Since 1977 maps of the national collection have not been catalogued.

  The great event of this year is the adopting of a new integrated online system, the Virginia Tech Library System (VTLS). VTLS provides the library and its users with an OPAC access to the library's catalogues. The production of the Finnish National Bibliography started using the new system in May 1990. The VTLS will allow map cataloguing by the end of this year. Ail Finnish university libraries will subsequently adopt the same VTLS system and they will be linked together through a central system to a uniform network (LINNEA) using the academic data communication network FUNET.

• Retrospective conversion of map catalogues
  Among various catalogue conversion projects two should be mentioned here because they concern cartographic material also. By the end of 1989 the material of the Finnish National Bibliography for the years 1967-1971, previously in a card catalogue, was converted into machine-readable form. The material contains catalogue data for appr. 2,500 map sheets.

  In order to satisfy the needs of both big public libraries and research libraries Helsinki University Library is going to convert the Finnish National Bibliography from 1976 ( except for the period 1967-71 mentioned above ) backwards. The conversion of cartographic material from this period will start by the end of this year.

• Map cataloguing
  During autumn 1988 a working group with members from the National Board of Survey and Helsinki University Library translated the ISBD(CM) and adapted the text to Finnish circumstances. The completion of the work was delayed until late spring 1989 because of the need to adjust the rules with those for monographs and serial publications. The new edition of the Finnish cataloguing rules for cartographic material was published in October 1989.

  With the completion of the cataloguing rules the work with the cataloguing format for maps was started. The Automation Unit for Finnish Research Libraries bear the responsibility for the formats. In cooperation with the working group for the cataloguing rules the Automation Unit created the FINMARC format for maps. UKMARC and USMARC have served as models. The contents of the format were settled in May 1990 after which some tests with maps have been made.
  Now that the map format is completed the Automation Unit makes the necessary applications for the VTLS- cataloguing program.

National Archives
In the National Archives tests have been made to convert registers concerning maps to PC's. One of the main problems is the great number of records in relation to the capacity of equipment.

National Board of Survey
Starting this year the Map Printing Centre of the National Board of Survey has been separated from its mother organisation and made an independent firm. The fifth edition of the Atlas of Finland will be completed in a couple of years. Plans for thematic cartography thereafter have been made in the National Board of Survey.

Education for Mapcurators
The 1987 Project for the cataloguing and indexing of cartographic materials and for the development of information systems pertaining to these materials emphasized the important role of cartographic material in libraries and in library education. In the university education of librarians cartographic material is hardly mentioned. As a result of the 1987 project the National Board of Survey, the Map Printing Centre, Helsinki University Library and the Finnish Library Association have planned a three day course on cartographic materials for librarians mainly from public libraries. The program was settled this summer and the course will take place at the beginning of 1991. After this course the organisers will make plans for next courses in this field.

Pirkko Korttinen, Helsinki University Library