This study introduces Finna Services and discusses how it has approached the popularisation of digitised collections for different user groups. By popularisation, we mean making the extensive collections of museums, archives, and libraries more appealing and accessible, not only to museum and archive researchers but also to broader audiences.

In Finland, significant progress has been made in digitising collections throughout the 2010s and 2020s. For example, by 2018, professional museums had digitised and made a total of 1,633,920 records accessible online (Museovirasto, 2019). By 2023, the amount of digitised material published by museums across various platforms has grown by nearly half, the total being 3,310,924 digitised objects. Altogether, professional museums in Finland hold a total of 47 million collection objects, and digitisation efforts are ongoing (Museovirasto, 2024). By additionally considering the digital materials from archives and digital books from libraries, this enormous volume creates vast opportunities for discovering materials. It also raises the question as to how a service like Finna should best utilise such a large volume of content so that users can grasp and appreciate the significance and many possible uses of these materials.

What is Finna Services?

Finna is a search service maintained by the National Library of Finland. Finna Services offers organisations the opportunity to have their own search site based on Finna. Additionally, Finna Services maintains the Finna.fi website, which brings together materials from hundreds of different Finnish libraries, museums, and archives. While functioning as a traditional library platform, Finna showcases thousands of digitised and CC-licensed pictures, objects, and various archive materials. In total, Finna has over 18 million records, of which three million are available online. The amount of records increases every week. Finna’s user interface is available in four different languages: Finnish, Swedish, English, and Northern Sámi. During 2023, Finna.fi had over 4,740,000 user visits.^[1]

Finna Services has over 450 customer organisations. As part of Finna Services, we offer personalised search-views for the organisation’s customers. Additionally, we develop the search service in cooperation with organisations and provide technical support for them. In this article, however, the focus is on the Finna.fi website.

Considering the diversity of the customer organisations and their collections, Finna Services has extensive user cohorts to consider.  This diversity offers countless opportunities to highlight and curate materials with different user groups in mind. In addition to the traditional search, Finna has two different content pages created for different targeted groups: A Shortcut to Research-Based Knowledge and Finna Classroom.

Content Page: A Shortcut to Research-Based Knowledge

A Shortcut to Research-Based Knowledge is a content page that highlights materials from universities and publication archives.^[2] The page allows the presentation of recent research publications and theses from various science fields. The page aims to highlight the fact that Finna offers access to a wide range of scientific publications and even research data. Numerous research publications and theses have been harvested into Finna. For example, scientific publications from the Journal.fi service comprise a significant portion of scientific publications in Finna, with a total of 84,231 records as of the beginning of 2024. In addition, Finna also includes harvested publication archives from various universities.

We have created predefined searches for the page based on current themes, allowing users to easily access research-based knowledge through topics of interest. Pre-made searches have been highlighted using visually appealing cards in the user interface. Publications have been featured in a carousel style, and we have also made browsing the latest theses easier visually. Organisations participating in Finna can propose research publications for the carousel on the page up to five times a year. The shortcut follows certain criteria for suggested and highlighted materials. These materials:

1. Must be scientific publications that are openly available online
2. Must be published within the past year or particularly relevant to current topics
3. Must be interesting and engaging for the general public
4. Must have titles that are accessible to a broad audience, avoiding complex professional terminology or abbreviations
5. Must have a cover image in Finna

A Shortcut to Research-Based Knowledge is developed such that the user lands on Finna’s search to browse materials, which might otherwise be difficult to filter in the search results. Furthermore, the shortcut also allows direct access to individual records.

With this content page, we aim to reach ordinary citizens who may not otherwise discover or actively search for scientific publications as researchers do. The page is closely tied to the popularisation of science. By simplifying the search for scientific publications, more people may become interested in current developments in the field of science. At the same time, scientific publications gain new visibility in our search service.

Content Page: Finna Classroom

Finna Classroom is a content page in Finna designed especially for teachers and educators, which highlights various teaching materials in three different ways. The Classroom showcases open educational resources (OER) from the Open Educational Resources Library (Figure 1). These open educational resources are free to use and available to everyone. Each resource is accompanied by official educational information that complies with the national curriculum.^[3]

In addition to the OERs, Finna Classroom also features curated materials created by organisations. These curated materials can be compiled into cohesive sets, including photographs, books, recordings, archival materials, and more, based on records available in Finna. The curated materials typically include a short description of the topic and ready-made activity ideas for teachers. Curated teaching materials always include educational details that align with the national curriculum.

In addition to OERs and curated materials, Finna Classroom has its own section for literacy skills. The Literacy section offers ready-made reading packages and literature recommendations for different age groups. The book lists have been created in collaboration with Finnish libraries. The section is currently available only in the Finnish-language interface.

Similar to the A Shortcut to Research-Based Knowledge content page, in Finna Classroom, users are ultimately directed to records or pre-filtered search results in Finna. The Classroom page is slightly more hierarchical than A Shortcut to Research-Based Knowledge, as it includes category pages organised by school subject themes. The purpose of this organisation is to help teachers navigate more easily to the subjects they teach and find materials for their use.

The primary purpose of Finna Classroom is to assist teachers in finding digital learning materials for educational use. Additionally, the platform offers organisations the opportunity to share pedagogical materials and increase their visibility among teachers. This feature allows cultural heritage organisations to connect more closely with students, particularly young children. In particular, the ready-made curriculum-aligned information and task ideas in curated materials support the further use of the materials.

Considering the End Users: User Journey

The user journey is straightforward in both A Shortcut to Research-Based Knowledge and Finna Classroom. The pages are designed so that users ultimately arrive at the Finna search or specific records within Finna (Figure 2). The primary purpose of these content pages is to spark the users’ interest and provide examples or ideas for various ways to use the materials. If users go directly to the Finna search, the results can sometimes be overwhelmingly broad, making it challenging to find suitable materials. If the search experience is frustrating from the users’ initial attempts, it is unlikely that the use of these materials will increase among general audiences.

Finna users have already shown promising engagement with both A Shortcut to Research-Based Knowledge and Finna Classroom. In 2023, the Finnish language version of A Shortcut saw a total of 7,173 unique visits. In 2024, a total of 7,673 unique page views were recorded in the statistics. A Shortcut has a clearly defined, stable user base, and we hope that this page will enhance ordinary citizens’ opportunities to access research information.

The Finnish language version of Finna Classroom had 9,945 unique visits in 2023. In 2024, Finna Classroom had expanded its visitor base. According to Finna’s statistics, the Finna Classroom homepage alone recorded 15,504 unique visits after its publication in May 2024. The re-designed Finna Classroom page was only launched in May 2024, making comparable data unavailable for the entire year. The usage statistics for curated materials are also promising for popularising the collections. In 2023, the two most popular curated materials each received over 2,000 views. Finna Classroom was re-designed in the spring term of 2024, and it was marketed to teachers at the start of the fall term. The growing visitor numbers are very encouraging.

Considering Users: Usability Testing

New features and pages in Finna are often tested before being released. Usability tests help us determine whether the planned changes or new elements are user-friendly and understandable from the perspective of end users. Both the renewed Finna Classroom page and the Material Package Tool (see below) were tested before their release. Usability tests were conducted during the autumn of 2023 and spring of 2024. The A Shortcut to Research-Based Knowledge page was tested earlier for development purposes in the summer of 2023. Usability tests were held remotely via the Zoom service because the participants were from various parts of Finland. The advantages of using a video call service in testing include the ability to share screens and record videos for later review. Videos are usually transcribed at the desired level and analysed. Thereafter, a report is created for personal use, internal use within Finna, or public use. User testing provides feedback on our published pages, allowing us to develop them in line with user preferences. Most importantly, usability testing gives us direct feedback from the specific user groups we aim to target and who engage with our materials.

Considering Organisational Clients: The Material Package Tool

At Finna, we do not develop services solely with end users in mind. An important part of our work is also to support organisational clients by making it easier for them to showcase their materials on Finna. Finna largely operates within the boundaries of a traditional search service. Organisations can add their own materials to Finna and highlight interesting searches or curated lists of favourites within their own Finna views. Customer organisations have expressed a need for easier ways to curate collections of digital materials. The most visible curated collections on Finna have been the curated materials collections specifically designed for educational use. The use of Finna Classroom has been continuously growing among end users. At the same time, the amount of material on the Classroom page has increased. Organisations have published numerous curated materials in Finna Classroom. In 2022, there were 57 curated materials in Finna Classroom, each of which had two language versions, in Finnish and Swedish. As a result, there were 114 curated materials in total. The materials were created using Finna’s favourite list feature as their own content pages on Finna.fi. The content pages included specific features designed for the curated materials, which differed from the usual end-user favourite list. Although the increasing number of curated materials was a positive development, their maintenance began to prove challenging. As a result, Finna started developing a new tool that would allow organisations to compile curated materials more flexibly, add educational details more easily, and publish and edit them independently without intermediaries.

The Material Package Tool is designed to be easily accessible from Finna’s administrative interface. The tool has been made as user-friendly as possible by implementing it as a form using Drupal. The form includes separate fields for titles, free text, and educational information. Moreover, educational information is retrieved directly from the Finnish National Agency for Education’s application programming interface (API), which simplifies information entry and reduces the likelihood of errors. Records from Finna can be entered into the form in two different ways: by directly entering the record’s URL or by adding a favourite list created within Finna. Currently, the Material Package Tool can only be used for creating curated materials for educational use. Educational curated materials can be published in Finnish, Swedish, and, most recently, also in Northern Sámi. Lately, organisations have expressed a need to curate collection showcases for other target groups as well, so the tool is currently being further developed to meet this requirement.

Conclusion

Finna Services exemplifies how digital collection platforms can bridge the gap between cultural heritage institutions and diverse user groups. By integrating tailored content pages such as A Shortcut to Research-Based Knowledge and Finna Classroom, the platform has significantly enhanced access to academic publications and educational materials. The increasing user engagement highlights the effectiveness of this approach in popularising digitised collections.

Moreover, Finna’s iterative development, guided by usability testing and user feedback, ensures continuous improvement in accessibility and functionality. The success of tools such as the Material Package Tool underscores the importance of providing institutional clients with streamlined methods for curating and presenting materials, fostering a more interactive and engaging digital archive.

Looking forward, sustaining and expanding these initiatives will be crucial in reinforcing Finna’s role as a centralised platform for digital collections. By further refining search functionalities, enhancing user experience, and expanding the scope of curated materials, Finna can continue to serve as a model for digital collection accessibility.

References

Abstract

Finna Services, managed by the National Library of Finland, serves as a digital gateway to Finnish cultural heritage, integrating collections from museums, libraries, and archives. With over 18 million records, Finna aims to enhance accessibility and engagement with digitised materials. This article examines strategies implemented to popularise digital collections through curated content pages, namely A Shortcut to Research-Based Knowledge and Finna Classroom. These initiatives facilitate user-friendly access to academic research and educational materials, respectively, broadening Finna’s audience beyond traditional researchers. Additionally, the introduction of the Material Package Tool enables cultural organisations to independently curate and publish educational content. By leveraging usability testing and user feedback, Finna continually refines its services to enhance discoverability and engagement. The study highlights the importance of tailored digital curation in promoting cultural heritage and supporting diverse user needs within the digital humanities landscape.

Keywords

Digital collections; Cultural heritage; Curated content; User engagement; Usability; Popularisation; Finna