Reinventing the Academic Library and Its Mission: Service Design in Three Merged Finnish Libraries

At the beginning of 2010, new higher education legislation was enacted in Finland which caused several university mergers. In addition to that, a self-directed type of organizational restructuring had been going on in Finnish academic libraries. This chapter describes the merger and the restructuring processes of the libraries in three universities, namely Helsinki University, University of Eastern Finland, and the University of Turku. Using a case study approach, the chapter describes different approaches used in the merger process, particularly how to manage service integration, resource reallocation and planning, and implementing new types of services. Performance measures and indicators are among the tools used to assess the successes, particularly in direct services to library users. Although this is based on Finnish experiences, it is helpful for other libraries considering, or engaging in, similar mergers, because of the given examples and tools for the actions needed for new structures and services. Also described are the challenges that three libraries met in the strategic work of reshaping of their organizational structures. While this chapter addresses library mergers only in universities, the methods and tools used will provide models for other types of libraries and nonprofit organizations.