A compact thesis on a new service designed for Helsinki Public Library system. This includes extensive field research and analysis of the service which was designed as part of the course at Aalto University.

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Library Service Discovery
Individual Study in Software Business [T-128.5780]
By
Bipin Venkataswamy Mood
Student Number 337320
Master of Science
Service Design and Engineering
Aalto University
bipin.mood@aalto.fi
May 2013
Espoo, Finland.

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Abstract
Coming of age. Libraries have started introducing new services periodically. As of now there are 73 Libraries in Greater Helsinki area and more than 52 services offered. The tally of services provided by Libraries is increasing at a swift pace. However, the prime question to be asked is how are these services distributed over libraries? When you look for it in detail, we realise that these services are offered based on the space available, staff suggestions etc. Rarely are they based on the customer recommendation and preference. So how should we tackle this? Should we collect feedback from customer as to what to offer in which Library? Is a single person’s recommendation worth depending upon? How to filter these requests?
Another issue with increase in services is service discovery itself. As the tally increases, it becomes hard to create awareness about all the service offerings to customers. But wait, What about Social Networking? Isn’t it a viable option to bridge the gap between customers and libraries? How can the power of internet be effectively used to tackle this issue?
“Libraries are keeping their pace with modernisation and evolution but are they taking the users with them on this journey?”
Our team of student innovators have come with a solution to put a full stop to all the above problems. Libraries4u is a subsidiary service under Helmet which offers a solution to deal with service discovery, service suggestion and citizen support. In this thesis we will try to explain and also try to analyse the service.

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Table of Contents
Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... 2
1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 4
2. The service concept ........................................................................................................................ 4
3. Analysis of the service ..................................................................................................................... 5
3.1 Micro Market ................................................................................................................................ 5
3.1.1 What problem are we trying to resolve? ............................................................................... 5
3.1.2 Who has the problem? .......................................................................................................... 6
3.1.3 What differentiated benefits does the service offer? ........................................................... 7
3.1.4 Does the target market has the potential to grow? .............................................................. 7
3.2 Macro Market ............................................................................................................................... 8
3.2.1 Are there enough customers to warrant that the Helsinki City library addresses the need?8
3.3 Macro Industry .............................................................................................................................. 9
3.3.1 Competition and cost proportionality to the benefits analysis. ............................................ 9
3.4 Micro Industry: ............................................................................................................................ 10
3.4.1: Substitution analysis ........................................................................................................... 10
3.5 Ability to execute on CSF: ........................................................................................................... 11
4. Result ............................................................................................................................................ 11
5. References: ................................................................................................................................... 12

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1. Introduction
“When “book” became “books”, we introduced Library coding system. What should we do when service becomes services?”
Libraries are defined as “a building or room containing collections of books, periodicals, and sometimes films and recorded music for use or borrowing by the public or the members of an institution” – Oxford English Dictionary
This definition has changed over years. Today Libraries offer whole new spectrum of services than just books and collections. They facilitate a more holistic learning experience. Libraries are expanding their horizons to accommodate evolution under its wings.. Libraries are striving hard to work with knowledge and information in a myriad of forms to become an even more vital resource and source of knowledge. Some adapted libraries are growing non-traditional or unconventional services to create, communicate, facilitate and capture knowledge for their parent institutions. When the libraries focus only on information generated through traditional publishing processes, they limit themselves and miss opportunities to be an effective information resource. They can no longer view themselves as organizations who design services on their own; this is nothing more than a one-way path towards failure. They must be the providers of the solutions demanded by their users and customers. This paper will introduce you to a service concept from team 2 of Aalto service camp and their experience of developing new knowledge-building service. The drivers behind developing the new service will be discussed and also how the library was opportunistic in identifying the user’s and customer’s needs, marketing its ability to provide the services, and integrating them into the library's current library service namely, “Helmet”. When more and more renowned libraries are embracing what is commonly known as Library 2.0, Helmet should not lag behind. “Library 2.0 is a loosely defined model for a modernized form of library service that reflects a transition within the library world in the way that services are delivered to users. The focus is on user-centered change and participation in the creation of content and community. The concept of Library 2.0 borrows from that of Business 2.0 and Web 2.0 and follows some of the same underlying philosophies. This includes online services like the use of OPAC systems and an increased flow of information from the user back to the library.”[1]
2. The service concept
The service is a web based discovery and request facilitator. The service takes a holistic view in bringing about the actions where the user feedback and new service request loop is used to facilitate service discovery and similarly use the service discovery loop to facilitate user to give input to libraries about service design.

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3. Analysis of the service
3.1 Micro Market
3.1.1 What problem are we trying to resolve?
“No pain, No gain” is a thing of past. Today, no one has the time to undergo pain to have gain. The services today are currently designed and are successful because they concentrate on gain and try to reduce pain.
In this Internet era, we get everything online. The Image of public libraries had to change to accommodate with external changes. For this Library are transforming their value proposition from just books and magazines to additional services like playroom and workspaces. Now the problem arises as many libraries start to provide services based on some preliminary research, space within the library, resources available with library or pure conviction. This agenda works very well sometimes. Let us take the example of Sound recording digitiser for now. Library staff at Kirjasto 10 said that the digitiser is a pretty popular service and it is booked for 3 to 4 months from today. In contrast, at Myllypuro media library it is less popular and you can book within a month. This shows that there can be two problems which pop out. Either the service at Myllypuro media library was not planned properly or the awareness among users about the service is less which has prompted this result.

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3.1.2 Who has the problem?
We have done altogether 30+ face interviews in different libraries across greater Helsinki Metropolitan area. There exists different kind of libraries to serve different kind of customers. Kaisatalo Library is a library meant mainly for students and researchers. As expected it serves, books, journals, magazines and scientific papers. In contrast, Library 10 serves different genre of citizens. They have music studio, concert space, Audio and video recording and many ather music related services. In both of them and many other Libraries we have observed and heard complaints about limited availability of quiet space. According to staff at Library 10, many customers enquire and complaint about reading space and staff usually suggest them to go to Rikhardinkatu Library which has good environment to study and also offers bundles of English books. 8 out of ten people in the Library 10 come there to study and are not aware of services offered in the library. 5 out of 5 people interviewed in Pasila library said they do not know about different services offered in the library other than lending books and music CDs. They were happy to hear that they can try the services once we told them that some services actually fit their bill. One of the music enthusiasts wanted to try music studio to practice her singing because her neighbours were annoyed due to her practice at home.
We tried to gather some information about customer awareness about different services offered by Libraries in greater Helsinki metropolitan area. The results were astonishing and can be seen in the graph below.
Figure 1: awareness about library services
We can clearly see that not many people are aware about unconventional library services offered by Helsinki Libraries.
Staff at Library 10 and Pasila were happy to hear about a feedback system where they could get service suggestions from users.

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3.1.3 What differentiated benefits does the service offer?
There is one similar service offered by Helmet itself from which a user can find about the service based on service list. The user interface is designed for mobile phones and therefore it has a list of services from which one can identify and find a suitable service. Although it addresses discovery problem, it is not maintained properly and many new services like 3D printer is not added to the list even after months of inclusion. Moreover this service is not promoted properly. Only 2 out of 30+ people we interviewed knew that this service exists but even they have not used it. This shows that the service has not fulfilled the purpose of its existence.
Our service takes a more holistic approach in serving customers. We want to include the users in service building process. When a new user tries to back another users service request, he invariably learns about the services offered by the library. The strength of a request can be seen from the number of votes and the popularity of the request on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. This service bridges the gap between Library and its users. The focus should be on user-centered change and participation in the creation of content and community. By giving a platform where users could voice their opinions and suggestions will provide opportunity for libraries to move towards user centric service designing. At the same time, users can improve the rapport with libraries and their services.
3.1.4 Does the target market has the potential to grow?
Central Helsinki library will soon adorn the sky in Töölönlahti bay area of Helsinki.
“Library’s services will be based on the needs of its users. After all, library users are not mere consumers of culture but active creators of it. In the Central Library, the information, skills and stories of city residents blend together in workshops, discussions, educational courses and hobby activities. It will be a place for creating new innovations for the individual and for society. One of the goals is to bring the good parts of the online world – the communal spirit and the sharing and refining of ideas – into physical space.” [2] –Central Library’s Motto
According to the official library planning in Figure 2, the library will have the following compulsory space distribution. This describes the orientation of new library and also helps new library to design user oriented service design.

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Figure 2: Space service distribution in central library [2]
Number of services will increase exponentially in coming years. As the number of services increase, it becomes really important to engage users in giving the best out of all the services.
This service is not only helpful to libraries across Finland. Turku Library already has exhibition and usable spaces to offer. Once other libraries start including different services then it becomes more and more important to find the right service at the right library.
3.2 Macro Market
3.2.1 Are there enough customers to warrant that the Helsinki City library addresses the need?
From 2000 customers a day at Library 10 to expected 5000 Visitors a day at central Helsinki Library, libraries are taking a giant leap. The service offered by a library has to reach a user or a community to serve its purpose. If we look at the current statistics from the public library website [3], it shows that the total number of library visits in greater Helsinki area is almost equal to 12 million. Even Web visits exceeds 10 million. Looking at the trend from Figure 3, It looks like there is significant increase in number of visitors from 2008 to 2012. Nearly 10.86% in increase of ”collection other than books and printed music”. Another significant point to be noted is the decrease in number of books in collection. In 2012, over 90,000 books are less compared to 2008 stats. The trend will continue and modern Helsinky libraries are accommodating these changes. The Libraries have to use the information of the

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users better to bring along the transition smoothly. The userbase a library serves to is huge.
Figure 3: Library statistics [3] “The public library is most commonly considered useful by local residents as a source of fiction (71%), non-fiction (67%) and as a source of materials for self- education in leisure time (58%).”[4] This shows that many of the users use library as a recreational space. The services offered to the customers then must be strongly based on their needs. Other than feedback forms, there is not a regular way for customers to connect with libraries. Even these feedback forms are used as a mode of complaining about existing services by users. So the big user base needs a service to request services and discover already existing services.
3.3 Macro Industry
3.3.1 Competition and cost proportionality to the benefits analysis.
As the service mainly used by Public libraries, the question of direct competition is nil. This is in some words advantageous and in some way very disadvantageous. The advantages are that the libraries can call the cards regarding its offering. It can facilitate a more general platform to answer the questions and can have the liberty to takes its own time to do so. On the other hand, because of no direct competition, the quality of service can be poor or sometimes outdated. As was told earlier, some services are not updated on the website which makes it difficult for users. Users are the sufferers here as they are the ones who face consequences. The cost incurred at having the additional service is close to nil, as the library already offers a service discovery service. The integration costs will be very less. The benefits are that the libraries will have a platform to understand users and user needs. There won’t be instances of closing a service based on less popularity. Involving community power to bring about rapport between libraries and users is much easier. There is no way in which the users can set terms and conditions in this service as the libraries have the last say on the matters. Based on the suggestions and practicalities the libraries can decide the services that they want to offer. The User-Library model will facilitate a more open and two ended communication which could be used in Helsinki Central Library design process.

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3.4 Micro Industry:
3.4.1: Substitution analysis
The opportunity for alternatives for library information search does not exist now. In future, the image looks bleak as well. Since the libraries offer services they are the best ones to inform the users as well. Based on the small survey in Figure 4 that we conducted for the service, we can conclude that Library and its webpage are the most sought after places where users come across new service discovery. 50% of people said that they look at Helmet website to seek a service and 75% said that they discover the same during their library visits. This shows that there are no other direct alternatives for the discovery part of the service. As far requesting a service goes, there does not exist a direct channel to convey information to libraries. As discussed earlier feedback form is generally handled for complaints and less for suggestions. Based on the staff words, more and more people complain about some service or suggest having minor things like quiet space etc. These feedback forms cannot be considered as a mode of request for services by users.
Figure 4: Awareness trends
One of the interviews with Library staff at Pasila library gave us some insights at new service discovery trends. When the recent e-book service was introduced on 24.04.2013 at Pasila library the news was covered by Helsingin Sanomat. The next day according to the Librarian, the response was huge and encouraging. “Since it is the numero Uno newspaper in Helsinki, the article acted as a promotion and awareness creator for our new service” said the Librarian. So this sometimes acts as a awareness creator but in the long run, it cannot re run the issue unless something new happens. This cannot be considered a viable alternative for sustainable awareness generator.
Similarly, Community forums can be sometimes considered as alternatives to discover services and voice concerns about library issues. Though they are valuable,

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these are informal ways of saying or stating concerns. Moreover libraries are seldom involved in these discussions that happen in local forums.
3.5 Ability to execute on CSF:
Based on the Discussion from all the above segments, we will first identify some key CSFs.
The first and foremost is the ability of manage the service and have up to date database of all the services and libraries in the service.
The library or Helmet has good resources already which are maintained but they need to manage the service in a better way. Integration of the new service to existing service is not difficult but hapless maintenance can cause troubles in executing the above CSF.
Analysing the customer journey to make sure that “service discovery” aspect does not divert attention from “service request” and “community follow up” aspects.
One of the key concepts of the proposed service is to facilitate service discovery by means of engaging users to voice their opinion and involve other users to back their request. The service should be properly mapped as to go by this rule.
Libraries preparedness to handle the suggestions and feedback
The aim of the service is to facilitate user – Library interaction for better results. The libraries must be prepared to take suggestions and handle these suggestions. They should make sure that they respond to requests. End of the day, Libraries have the right to decide if a service is includable or not based on practical scenario. But responding to requests is a must as no response hinders the user belief in the platform itself.
Initial service promotion to catch the Early adopters and Early majority.
It is very important for libraries to launch the service with high promotion quotient. If they happen to conquer early adopters and early majority users then 75% of the job is done. The objective of the service is to generate useful discussions for which the effort of both parties is essential.
4. Result
Since all the 5 modules from the 7 modules analysis methods favour the service, it can be said that the service concept is promising. The flaws should still be reworked on but the Library in itself has a strong basement on which this service can stand on. The new service should be considered as complimentary than as supplementary to already existing service.

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5. References:
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_2.0
[2] http://keskustakirjasto.fi/en/files/2010/09/project_plan_9_6_en.pdf
[3] http://tilastot.kirjastot.fi/en-gb/basicstatistics.aspx?AreaKey=Y2012T4N1
[4] http://now.libraries.fi/benefits.html#.UaPFwECnyAY