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NewsHelsinkiFinland • 2012-12-05

Select the country and object's type Kaisa House library nearing half a million visitors

The number of visitors to the new Helsinki University Main Library this autumn suggests that visitor numbers may hit half a million by early 2013. The library boasts a new service concept, designed as part of the World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 programme, and user feedback has, for the most part, been positive.

The new Helsinki University Main Library, which opened to the public in the Kaisa House on 3 September 2012, had 8,700 visitors on the first day of opening. Visitor numbers totalled 130,000 for September and 146,000 for October, averaging some 6,000 visitors on weekdays.

“Having recorded 400,000 visits by the end of November, we\'re expecting to break the half-million mark by the beginning of next year,” says Inkeri Salonharju, Project Manager at the University of Helsinki.

The new library has also attracted groups from home and abroad to see its architecture and design, with a total of 150 to date.

User feedback mostly positive

Feedback from library users has been mainly positive. Some users and visitors commenting on the library during the opening week described it as “gorgeous”, “brilliant” and “a dream library – a place where you can let your thoughts run free”. They also found the facilities spacious, uncluttered, functional and stylish. However, there were also those who found there was room for improvement, saying the library was too noisy, had too few silent areas, and that it was difficult to know what kind of use the different areas were meant for.

“We\'re not going to enforce complete silence, but we are working on making the open areas more clearly designated. This way we can ensure that users find the work spaces that suit their specific needs,” Salonharju explains.

The Kaisa House library offers 1,000 study places in silent reading rooms, group study rooms and open-plan areas that serve multiple purposes. There are also sofa groups and lounge chairs for socialising or taking a refreshing break.

The library has clear, colour-coded zones to indicate the levels of noise acceptable in different areas of the premises: green indicates an area set aside for group work and discussion, orange is for areas where quiet conversation and laptop use is permitted, and red is for silent study with no noise or disturbance. This noise policy is part of the new library etiquette resulting from a WDC Helsinki 2012 service design project.

Continuing on the path of user-oriented design

The aim of the “Intelligent Design” service design project for the new Helsinki University Main Library is to give users the inspiring and attractive environment for studying and learning they have been hoping for.

The service design project has already brought library users new services, such as a mobile interface and a digital map application for browsing the collections and finding information about the services. To support group learning, the Kaisa House library has a study circle service. The Digital Bookshelf app, meanwhile, is designed to make it easier for users to access e-books and other digital content. Other objectives of the project have been to create a coherent, user-friendly service concept and to improve customer service communications. A customer feedback system and a developer community are currently underway.

“The service design project has only tackled a small part of our challenges service-wise. But thanks to the project, we now have the knowledge and the courage to go further with the development of our concept. The next step is to roll out the new services in all our campus libraries,” says Salonharju.

The largest university library in Finland, the new Helsinki University Main Library in the Kaisa House welcomes everyone to use its services and collections. The service design project will bring better on-site and online services for the Helsinki University Library\'s nearly 100,000 users.

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