Library expertise needed outside the library – implementing the Finnish Information Management Act

Abstract

This poster describes 1) the new tasks assigned to Finnish public authorities including universities related to information management and 2) the unique collaboration of six universities of applied sciences around the topic. According to the Act on Information Management in Public Administration, all public authorities in Finland must e.g., define and describe their information pools and datasets in Documents’ publicity description, build an information management model, develop records management and adopt electronic archiving. The documents' publicity description aims to answer the following questions: • what kind of information pools universities have • what kinds of datasets the information pools include • which information systems are related to the information pools • how personal data is processed in the information pools (privacy notices). Universities have organized the implementation of the law in different ways. At Turku UAS, these new tasks were assigned mainly to the library due to its experience in metadata, classification systems and organization of information. At Metropolia UAS, these new tasks were assigned to legal services and archive services. A joint project with six universities of applied sciences was also formed to accomplish synergy effects and create best practices in developing information and records management at each UAS.