The new library director likes to speak out in favour of open science and societal interaction. Even in his spare time, he wants to promote the visibility of libraries and new ways of doing things.
Aiming for satisfied and happy customers
The director of the university’s library, Ari Muhonen, is pleased to say that his new job at the University of Eastern Finland since this summer is the right place for him at this stage of life.
“Even though I’m not thinking about my retirement years yet, it’s still clear to me that this will be the last job in my career. This job offers just the right amount of challenges, new targets of interests and diversity. In addition, I already have networks and contacts in Joensuu, so it feels like moving to my hometown.”
Typically, Muhonen has changed jobs every 7–10 years or so.
“At that point, I have usually felt like I have given all I can to that job and it is time to learn something new. The thing that is especially pulling me to eastern Finland is health sciences, as this is the first university environment in which I will have the opportunity to explore that field.”
And it doesn’t hurt that Muhonen’s wife’s family is from Joensuu and, in his own words, “we have been in Joensuu for all the parties and gatherings for the last 35 years.”
Muhonen’s last position before Joensuu was at the University of Jyväskylä Open Science Centre. Before that, he worked as director at the University of Helsinki Viikki Campus Library and as chief librarian at the Helsinki University of Technology and Aalto University.
More than the customer asks
“The mission has remained the same throughout the history of libraries: to acquire and classify materials and lend them to customers. Such provision of access to knowledge has been practiced for centuries, and it is still our main duty,” says Muhonen.
But now that we carry “libraries” in our pockets everywhere we go, and the flood of information is overwhelming, the library has a key role to play as a funnel through which information passes.
“The key is to help the customer break through all the noise and find the correct, relevant information for them.
The university library is regularly praised by researchers and students. In Muhonen’s view, this is yet another sign of the key role of libraries.
“At best, we can give the customer more than they asked for or knew was available. A trained librarian knows how to guide and ask the right questions, and open access means that the customers can be easily led to the sources of knowledge as well.
Muhonen says that, for him, the best thing about libraries has been, and still is, customer service.
“My first job in a library was in customer service. And it is still the best feeling when a customer comes to our library to get one book and then leaves with a happy feeling and ten books.”
Two experts get the best result
Muhonen says that he is particularly glad that he got to spend the first month in his new position working with the former director of the library, Jarmo Saarti, before he retired.
“Jarmo and I have a very similar vision of how the library should serve the university and society, and of the future development goals. In that sense, I can continue much on the same path as Jarmo.”
By this, Muhonen refers to the university’s many expert communities in which things get done by working together towards a common goal.
“The promotion of open science has been a priority for about a decade now, and I find that libraries play a key role in this. Researchers should be allowed to focus on their research and rely on others to pursue the matter further after the research is completed.
It is the library’s duty to provide open access to research, but it will need the help of IT services, communications and research services to do so.
“When each of us focus on our own area of expertise, it will benefit the university as a whole. That is the power of co-operation.”
Researchers should be allowed to focus on their research and rely on others to pursue the matter further after the research is completed.
Ari Muhonen
Director of the university’s library
Closer to local residents
Muhonen worked eight years in his previous position as director of the University of Jyväskylä Open Science Centre. He was responsible for the activities of the university library and two museums, as well as for promoting open science.
“I think that open science is a concept that also includes interacting with the surrounding society, and that makes it part of the mission of the universities. It is our responsibility to showcase the research carried out at the university and how it benefits the citizens.”
Muhonen says that museums provided an easy way to reach city residents in Jyväskylä. The University of Eastern Finland does not have this in its favour, so other solutions for reaching the customers will be needed. Some ideas have come to mind already.
“Of course many local residents already know of us, but I would like to start considering together with the university staff and students various ways of reaching the general public even better.
In any case, science is becoming increasingly accessible via electronic platforms.
“We are currently in a race for displaying research and learning materials online. The transparency of research data is also gaining ground in the electronic world. The next step is to provide an easy way to find everything. The goal would be to have anything you find and need be sent to your email account with just a few clicks of the button. This is not yet possible, but we are getting there.”
In addition to his day job, Muhonen is also nationally active in his beloved field of library science. He chairs both the Finnish University Libraries Network and the Board of The National Repository Library.
An engineer and humanist
The educational background of Muhonen is Licentiate of Science in Technology and Shipbuilding Engineer specialising in ice engineering. On first thought, it seems quite distant from the world of library science.
“Completing the degrees in engineering has served as a good basis for project management work. Starting my career in the library sector in the 1990s and being the only engineer at the Finnish National Library among 200 humanists, I gradually learned to think like a humanist.”
“In fact, I have always said to my children that it does not matter what your educational background is, as long as you have an education. You will get far in life if you stay curious and seize the opportunity when it presents itself, and by remaining enthusiastic and willing to learn.”
One of Muhonen’s passions is stamps. He has served as president of the Philatelic Federation of Finland, for example. In addition, he acts as a judge in philatelic exhibits around the world. Muhonen does not limit his collecting hobby to stamps. He also collects letters and postcards, especially those from 1918, which is an important year in Finnish history.
“I once told a history professor at the University of Jyväskylä about my hobby, and the professor said that you have a topic for a doctoral thesis right there.
Now he’s putting words into action: Muhonen is now working on his dissertation on the postal services of Finland in 1918 alongside his day job as library director. The dissertation is progressing slowly but surely, though its completion may have to wait until retirement years.
“It seems that a small part of me is humanist after all.”
ARI MUHONEN
Born 1962 in Lahti
Licentiate of Science in Technology, Helsinki University of Technology 1996
Key positions held
University of Jyväskylä, Director at the Open Science Centre 2017–2021
University of Jyväskylä, Library Director 2013–2016
University of Helsinki, Director at Viikki Campus Library 2011–2013
Aalto University, Library Director 2010–2011
National Library of Finland, Library Services Manager 1997–2002
Library of the Helsinki University of Technology, Chief Librarian 2002–2009
Print quality photo
