European inventory of
societal values of culture

Heikkilä – How will algorithms shape our cultural practices? The case of Finnish public libraries

Heikkilä, R. (2023). How will algorithms shape our cultural practices? The case of Finnish public libraries.

This case study describes and critically assesses the current trend of organizing and managing public library collections with the help of algorithms, taking the empirical example of Finland’s public libraries that widely use algorithmic collection management. The case study is based on the author’s ongoing research project, Redistribution of Cultural Capital in the Era of Algorithms: A Comparative Study of Finnish Libraries, which aims to understand (1) how algorithmisation can affect cultural taste and choice and (2) what the increasing use of algorithms eventually means for the redistribution of cultural capital. The case study describes the short history of using algorithms as tools for organising library collections in Finland and discusses the most imminent possible outcomes and risks of such an approach.