Heli Kautonen, PhD, is Director at the University Library of Turku, Finland. She was previously the Director of Finnish Literature Society (Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura) since February 2019. She worked in the field of digital cultural heritage in different positions for over 15 years.

She was one of the managers in the team at the National Library of Finland, which built the Finna service that joins together the collections of practically all Finnish archives, libraries and museums. She has been involved in various activities in her work as a university teacher, a communications team member and in a European Union project. Heli Kautonen’s formal education ranges from art and design to information technology. Her doctoral thesis from the Aalto University School of Science studied the strategic aspects of user-centred design (UCD) in the public digital services.

The basis of her current research interests is in applying human-centred design viewpoints to solving the societal challenges in the age of digitalisation and in the context of research libraries. She was appointed to LIBER’s Executive Board in 2019.

Being part of the LIBER community has shown me that research libraries across Europe share the same challenges, the hopes and the core values. Yet, our true strength arises from the local ecosystems, where we serve our unique patrons, collaborate with our closest partners and build our identity on our own language or dialect. My mission is to build our future together by engaging and being engaged, near and far.