Study visits

Thursday I went with eight of my colleagues on a study visit to Copenhagen. We visited the Danish State Archive storage facility. It was very impressive, 14 meters high without any floors in between. They used a kind of advanced fork lift to retrieve the material. Every archive box had a barcode, just like the shelf it was placed on. We got to see some very old documents also, some as early as 1530s. Very interesting visit.

All nine of us had lunch at a restaurant and then we managed to get onboard the same bus to the north campus area. There we got a guided tour of a Royal Library branch. We saw pretty much all of the stacks. It resembled our stacks to a great deal. We recognized many of the foreign language journals, the compact shelving system, shelf markings, call number codes and even the color of the shelves. The librarian explained how their online customer service worked and since we use the same system, Libanswers, it was not new to us. Still, it was nice to see other libraries and their work routines. On the way back home I made stops at two different malls but didn't find anything worth buying so only got some Danish cheese at a supermarket.

Since we had been away on the Thursday we had quite a lot to do on the Friday. No one else had done our jobs, so it was double work load.

Saturday I was away on a flea market round to small villages and found some books for the library. I also covered a street market, an antique book shop and went for groceries. Sunday I rested mostly.

Monday afternoon we went on yet another study visit but this time locally. The office for the Swedish Academy Dictionary had invited us. Some of their staff members have permission to use the stacks at our library so we see them regularly when they check references. The dictionary has the aim to give a detailed description of Swedish words from 1521 and onwards. It's a very large printed set. They have reached the letter V now, so it's at the end. Their work will continue however, since language is not static. The visit was very informational, we got three short lectures and an insight in their daily work.

Today I have had a shadow. A librarian from Gothenburg University Library has visited and she followed me around everywhere. She was interested in our catalogue system and how we have developed it. They have the same system so she wanted to know how we work in it (and with it). I showed her our technical solutions and the short-cuts we have created to make our work easier. She was eager to learn and seemed very interested in these issues.

Cemetery tour

This past Wednesday seven people from the Royal Library in Stockholm visited us. I gave a presentation of the stacks and our work routines. Apart from this, there is lots to shelve these days. We have been to the storage extra days for this. Also other colleagues have helped us.

The weekend was very busy. In the morning I drove to my birthplace, Norra Strö parish. The Historical Society chairwoman had asked me to give a guided tour of the cemetery. About 20 people showed up to learn more about the ones buried there. I brought the entire gravestone inventory and used it a lot, since it contains more details than the inscriptions reveal. We spent almost two hours walking around and talking about the ones that have gone before us. I was exhausted afterwards but I have to say it was a very interesting event. There were many stories told.

After the cemetery visit I drove on to some friends further north. We had a book exchange; I had found old dissertations for them and they had found books on emigration for me. We had simply exchanged wishlists and discovered that we could help each other. We also had a light lunch and the topics of discussion were varied.  In the evening I drove to the summerhouse and stayed there overnight.

Sunday I was really supposed to mow the lawn but it was too wet. Instead I went to Hässleholm to visit an old lady for a chat and to give her some fabric and thread for her sewing projects. In the afternoon I went to a book fleamarket in the same town. It was opening day for the season and the line was long. I had never been there before. Unfortunately, the books were not divided into fiction/non-fiction so I had to go through everything. It was a big job, it took 1 1/2 h. I found books both for me and the library. After a late lunch at a golf restaurant I drove home again.

Market

The last two weekends there have been lots of fleamarkets of all kinds. The season has definitely started. I met colleagues at a few of them, both as customers and vendors. In my local town there was also a market this Saturday. School children were selling baked goods, the different shops had extra offers, the political parties wanted to inform about the upcoming EU election, there was a school lunch comptetion between four schools and there were entertainment and locally grown veggies on offer. I went mostly to collect printed material from the political parties, since the library often doesn't get this material. I also sampled the school lunches (particularly liked the brussels sprouts) and got some cookies.

At work it seems to have shifted; we get more returns than requests now. We don't have time to shelve, so it flows over in most places. I have been to the storage several times recently for various projects. Also to help retrieve books.

Last week I got a new passport, so now I'm thinking perhaps I should travel somewhere.

Books

Last weekend was about the usual things; shopping at fleamarkets and some house cleaning. I got a cherry tomato plant (and a pot for it) for the balcony.

Tuesday it was Walpurgis Night and the violent student partying meant that the library was closed. We could work but I chose to stay at home and do even more cleaning. I also did a big project where I rearranged my book cases to get one more shelf. It was hard work, especially to get the glass cabinet out of the actual book case (and then put it back again). The extra shelf is already filled with books.

Wednesday was May 1st, our Labor Day, so we were off from work that day too. I was hired as a mover for someone who was moving into a care facility. It was a move within the same town so not a big job.


This week we got massive amounts of book requests from two different patrons. Most of the books needed cataloging, so many people were involved before we could make the books available. I was out at the storage twice this week to help with these cases.