https://journal.fi/signum/issue/view/6867

Signum Vol 52 Nro 3 (2020)

Vesa Kautto

INFORMATION SERVICES INDUSTRY PAST THE WORLD AND THE BIRTH OF THE PRESENT

The history of Nordic information service co-operation was written for a long time and finally it was completed in 2018. The work depicts in time close but technically and functionally distant time from the 60s to the early 2000s. Versatile and detailed the work highlights the cooperation of information service professionals, skill and diligence. Nordic information service professionals have done another after World War I abounded cooperation. History of cooperation however, writing took a long time. The initiative was taken in 2000 by VTT information service expert Elisabet Mickos and Stockholm University of Technology library (kthb) Marie Wallin. The Nordic Council for Scientific Information (nordinfo) decided to support project, but the operation of nordinfo ended in 2004. Another blow to the project was Elizabeth Mickos’ death in the year 2007.

In 2016 the project was undertaken to complete Helsinki university library service manager Teodora Oker-Blom and Marie Wallinin by force. The work was completed 2018 open as a publication. The work has INFORMATION SERVICES INDUSTRY PAST THE WORLD AND THE BIRTH OF THE PRESENT

The history of Nordic information service co-operation was written for a long time and finally it was completed in 2018. The work depicts in time close but technically and functionally distant time from the 60s to the early 2000s. Versatile and detailed the work highlights the cooperation of information service professionals, skill and diligence. six editors and 20 authors. Book consists of twenty articles and three interviews in which interviewees are Björn Tell and Lilianna Kanafarski from Sweden and Sauli Laitinen from Finland. The book looks at Nordic information policy, in particular the activities of nordinfo, measures to build information networks and to improve connections, databases and search systems, information seekers made in support of actions such as user training and the Nordic online market. 60s light composition and punch cards The book describes the development of fifty during the year in which the information service progress has been strong.

This is well illustrated by Sauli Laitinen in an interview. Sauli worked as a chemist In Oulu Nitrogen Limited Liability Company, when noticed the opportunity to get to practice Ohio Chemical Abstracts Serviceen in 1969. Chemical Abstracts has already done In the 1960s, summaries of more than 100,000 research reports a year – computers had to take help. First the stage was printed production of index and summary publications computer-generated from light storage. Next we started distribute magnetic tapes to information service centers To the United States and abroad.

Interest profile of the information seeker were deposited on punch cards and the search was performed every couple of weeks for new ones upon arrival of the magnetic tapes at the service center. Nordic technical and medical universities libraries were the first of their kind selective information distribution providers Outside the United States. In Finland the service providers were Medical Central Library and the Helsinki University of Technology library.

A Novelty of the 70s: Online Searches Later in the 1970s computers improved features such as direct access memories and partitioning development of telecommunications connections acceleration made possible online search, first Stateside. There was no in the Nordic countries initially telecommunication nodes connections transatlantic. Only the opportunity was to subscribe to a long distance call To a contact number in Central Europé and when the search is complete, ask center to disconnect. It was expensive and slow! Europe’s first online network established by the European Space Agency, of which Sweden was a member. There’s a network the node received the Helsinki University of Technology library (kthb).

United States National medical library (nlm) developed by the Medline direct search service became a Nordic node Karolinska Institutet Library (kib). In the early days it was cheaper to have it printing search results in a service center than moving them along the line for printing in the subscriber country. Lars Klasén says a search yielded 4,000 reference, and he received a post in Stockholm 1000 page list. One intermediate step was use of CD-ROMs for information retrieval, Nordic research libraries acquire and offered them for use. Packet-switched connections from the Nordic countries were born weakly. One reason for the slow progress was national telecommunications companies missing understanding such such need. The information service community was forced to act themselves.

Nordforsk founded Scannet project packet-switched to connect with the Nordic countries. Scannet was introduced in 1976. Later Scannet was replaced by national operators ’networks. The Nordic countries direct pioneers of information retrieval Growth of direct information services was fast. Direct information retrieval in the Nordic countries developed faster than elsewhere in the world except the United States except.

Lars Klasén sees reasons for the Nordic high-tech maturity and early information In the Nordic countries, straight information retrieval evolved faster than elsewhere in the world With the exception of the United States except. 34 SIGNUM 3/2020 introduction of machinery, the need for information increasing advanced research, favorable economic conditions as well as good  telecommunications connections. Significantly large non-Nordic share online market turnover has not been, 3-4% in the 1990s. The development continued to be revolutionary.

The first  microcomputers received in the 1970s, email was born 1972 and the World Wide Web 1990. Electronic publications and the Internet appeared picture. Telecommunication speeds increased one hundred times the previous one. Every the information seeker could take retrieve information from the web itself. Webin the breakthrough came in 1994, in 1997 almost all search services were available through it. Today online information retrieval is vital society.

Nordic co-operation of the information service reviewed in the book versatile and detailed. The collaborators were states or established by governmental organizations cooperation bodies, industry organizations and their members and information service units and libraries. The aim of the cooperation was for example, the promotion of technical progress, information on services and user training. Cooperation bodies from the 1940s For the 21st century First promoted information service the body was in Nordforsk, founded in 1947, applied science research council.

In 1954 in its name the first Nordic was held documentation symposium and a documentation liaison group was created. Nordic information service activities coordinated by Norddok and nfbs (Nordiska Forskningsbibliotekens Samarbetskommité). They were replaced in 1976 by the Nordic Council of Ministers establishing nordinfo, whose task was to promote and coordinate communication of stored information, monitor foreign developments, set up and finance development projects and provide advice for national and Nordic people industry organizations. nordinfo secretariat was placed in Finland Technical in connection with the university library. nordinfo’s output was, among other things including Nordic online databases directory, information retrieval textbook and other guides for IT professionals. nordinfo’s operations were evaluated positively and its budget was not large – yet the Council of Ministers decided that its operations ended in 2004.

The second half of the 20th century is not far from time, but technically and functionally it was in information retrieval a completely different world than the current one. During this period, the Nordic information service the ability of professionals to cooperate, vigor, dexterity and diligence is deserved to be photographed.

Vesa Kautto PhD, Chief Librarian (retired) vesakautto@kolumbus.fi