The research programme Finnish Local Government 2004 is a joint programme launched by the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities, universities and research centres. It is funded by Finnish municipalities and the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities. The project engages in a systematic and comparable analysis of the development of the municipal sector in 1995-2004. The 47 municipalities participating in the programme are representative of the Finnish local government sector.
The study programme comprises of 14 research modules. For most modules, data are collected through mail surveys. The data may be used for cross-sectional or time series analysis.
The survey focused on public libraries in Finnish municipalities, concentrating on their management, services and development. Other similar surveys were carried out in 1996 and 1999.
First, the respondents were asked a number of questions relating to staff numbers, library stock, and satisfaction with different library services. One theme pertained to who produces certain services like cataloguing, maintenance, IT systems etc. for the library, and satisfaction with these services. Some questions covered opinions on outsourcing. The respondents were also asked what kind of changes had happened in the library since 1999. They evaluated the state of the library and its services at the time of the survey. Decision-making was studied with questions pertaining to the role of the municipal committee responsible for library matters, and how active or knowledgeable etc. the committee members were. Opinions were probed on the impact of certain bodies (e.g. neighbouring municipalities, trade unions, civil servants, the EU, library users) on library services.
The respondents were asked how important various duties and responsibilities were in their position as the person in charge, how much time they allocate to certain tasks, and who or which body has the power to make decisions on staff recruitment, acquisition, opening hours, allocation of funds etc. They were also asked whether certain areas for development (e.g. increasing the variety of services, extending the opening hours, producing more individual services, getting more funding) would be important for the library in the coming years. Use of client surveys was charted.
Background variables included library type, and the respondent's gender, year of birth, education, work experience in libraries, responsibility areas at work, and number of inhabitants in the municipality.
Two-stage stratified sampling in selecting project municipalities. Total study of library managers/chief librarians of libraries located in the selected municipalities.
The project municipalities were selected separately from those with less than 10000 inhabitants (28 municipalities) and from those with more than 10000 inhabitants (19 municipalities). The selection aimed to be representative within both groups in relation to all municipalities with the same population size. Large municipalities were over-represented because 70 % of the Finnish population lives in large municipalities. Representativeness criteria included regional location, age and education of the population, industry structure, municipal economy parameters, political situation and variables related to municipal policy. The selected municipalities form a small scale model of all Finnish municipalities. The Åland Islands municipalities were excluded because of special features resulting from Åland's autonomy.
Total study of all libraries and branch libraries which were located in the selected municipalities and had someone designated as the person in charge.