The spirit to pioneer a new model has a long tradition in Savonlinna. In 1912, after a dispute with the director of the opera in Helsinki, the internationally renowned singer Aino Achté began to organize operatic performances at the ruins of the medieval Olavinlinna fortress in Savonlinna. Against all odds this project off the beaten path became a success. Today the festival tickets are sold out well in advance and the Olavinlinna, the best preserved medieval castle in the whole of Finland, has been splendidly restored.

Due to Savonlinna’s popularity there was an increasing need to seek information in the field of tourism. Therefore in March 1995 a new Information Service Project for Tourism Studies was initiated in the Library of the Savonlinna Departments of the University of Joensuu. It was connected with the Finnish University Network for Tourism Studies and financed by the European Regional Development Fund, the Finnish Ministry of Education, the Eastern Finland University Foundation, and the town of Savonlinna.

Due to Savonlinna’s popularity there was an increasing need to seek information in the field of tourism. Therefore, A new Information Service Project for Tourism Studies was initiated. A large collection of literature on Tourism Studies was created for researchers, business, students and anyone else seeking information on tourism.

An information specialist and a librarian are in charge of the implementation of the project. They collect scientific publications on tourism, provide guidance and user training, answer reference questions by telephone or email, retrieve citations from bibliographic databases, arrange interlibrary loans to other libraries, and maintain and update a catalogue of master’s theses in tourism studies.

The information service is participating in the development of RELIS, a national information system, together with the Finnish Tourist Board, the Travel Development Centre, the Porvoo Institute of Travel and Tourism, the University of Lapland and the Vaasa Institute of Business, Economics and Hotel Management. Through RELIS, the information service has access to Finnish research, education and library databases in the field of tourism as well as to the databases of the Finnish Tourist Board. The information service also indexes articles from Finnish periodicals to the Arto database, the catalogue of the Finnish scientific libraries.

Today the collection of scientific works in the field of tourism contains about 4000 volumes and it is supposed to grow annually by approximately 1000 volumes. In addition, over 40 periodicals in the field of tourism were subscribed.

The collection specializes in publications on sustainable tourism development, cultural and nature tourism as well as on rural tourism. Its resources are available free of charge for researchers, business, students and anyone else seeking information.

Within a 5-year period the Information Service for Tourism built up one of the biggest collections specialized in scientific tourism information, both on a national and on an international scale, and is well prepared for meeting the future customers’ needs in a changing information society.

Researchers, business, students and anyone else seeking information on tourism.

Total costs were 555 000 euros, to which the EU contributed 190 000 euros.

University of Joensuu: Continuing Education Centre - Savonlinna Unit
Ulla Ritola-Pesonen, tel. +358 15 5759668

//1995

case

Urban Policy > Economy knowledge & employment > Urban economy

Specific sectors