Merry Christmas

The new staff member seems to have more energy than the rest of us. He took the initiative to drive to the storage (in his own car) to shelve. He thought it was practical, because he can drive home from there in the afternoon. We are happy about his engagement in the work.

The Christmas party was held online, on Zoom. It was difficult to log on but when it finally worked it was very nice. One staff member showed images of handwritten texts from the 13th century, where the figures we now associate with Christmas were mentioned. He also talked about the traditions in the 19th century. The university archivist was invited and gave a presentation of some books relating to the history of the university. And then the big event - we all took part in an online live viewing of the Hallwyl Palace Museum in Stockholm. Two of their staff members walked around in the museum after hours with a film camera and showed us some of the best items on display. We saw Dutch 17th century paintings, the book collection (of course), the interiors of the kitchen, the first telephone in Stockholm, the grand piano room where most of the items were covered in gold and the dining room set for dinner. I have been to this museum in person and have to say this viewing was very good. 

The Christmas present from work was a gift certificate to use on a website. We usually get this and it's nice to pick out your own gift.

Two colleagues have had the corona virus, both are ok. One of them said she lost the sense of taste and smell, but no other side effects showed up. 

Last Monday the authorities in Sweden sent a text message to all the listed cellphone numbers, urging us to follow the restrictions and reminding us of the danger. No more than 8 people are now allowed to gather in a public space. The library has even shorter opening hours now, 12-17 on weekdays. This Friday the restrictions got even tighter and today the library boss is in a meeting with the vice chancellor to discuss the issues. 

Only a few days left to the big holiday now. I have sent out the annual letter by e-mail. If anyone feels neglected, please let me know. I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Black Friday shopping

I could only take two Mondays off because my colleagues had problems coping with the work load. Instead I have taken a few afternoons off, so by now I am down to the agreed limit of overtime. Recently I have also engaged more in the storage round and have participtated more actively in the daily chores, since several people are physically absent. This past week we got a replacement for a colleague who was transferred. The new guy has experience from another university library, so I don't have to explain everything from scratch. He takes initiative to shelve, which we are happy about. 

Shopping at Black Friday is something I normally don't do, but this year the deals at the plus size clothing store were very good. I waited until the last opening hour and was all alone in the store. I got two pairs of pants at a very affordable price. At another store I got a new nightgown. Around the same time I had to buy a new TV, since the old one stopped functioning. The one I wanted was of course not on sale, but bought it anyway.  

At my place the Christmas tree is already up and decorated. At this time of year (especially this year) we need more lights and decorations in our lives.

This Sunday I drove to my birthtown, Norra Strö. My friends had at last published the book about the church and were selling it at the historical society museum. I got one copy for free, since I had helped with literature and proof-reading. The book is very extensive, 200 pages is a lot for a book about a small countryside church. 

It's dark and relatively cold here now. It's just above zero, some nights below. Several mornings I have had to get the windshield wipers removed from the windshield using quite a lot of force. So far, there are no problems driving.

Proof-reading

It has been rather busy at work. Quite mad, actually. The rules are now even stricter, so we are very few people working in the stacks. Either because the staff is working from home instead or have health issues. Today one colleague transported ten boxes with journals to another colleague who is sitting at home, so that she can perform some work. She lives about 80 km from the library. 

Realizing I have too many hours overtime (no, it's not surprising), I will try to take every Monday off in November. Today is the first day off, and of course I am at work to use the computer. Also managed to get down to the center of Lund and got a hair cut. 

I spent the entire Halloween-weekend proof-reading a manuscript. Two of my friends are writing a book about Norra Strö church. They have finally come so far that they asked for an opinion. Getting through the 200 pages was quite a task. I had a lot of comments. The publication date is only a few weeks away.

My Australian relatives recently found three Bibles originating in Sweden. One was owned by Nils Nilsson, who emigrated there in 1909 with wife and kids. The other two belonged to his wife's family. The strange thing is that only one of them lived in Australia. The third Bible had five names written on the inside cover. The parents and one child died in Sweden, the two remaining daughters emigrated to the USA (and both died there). So why that third Bible was in Australia I cannot say. 

Bibliography

The past three weeks have been mostly about work. Several people are sick frequently, which means more work for me. I don't know why I have managed to stay in health this long. Mostly luck, I assume. The rules for distance is stricter, since the corona virus is increasing here. The only other places I visit are grocery stores. Recently I also dared to go into a clothing store and got two pairs of pants. 

At work one of my colleagues has moved to another department and there is no replacement yet. We had an online meeting with all staff members, which was challenging, but it functioned. Since we have a new boss, there are a lot of workshops and extra information. We are asked to make plans for the library's future and things like that. Last week we had a database upgrade and there were some minor problems afterwards (if you clicked on Print Slip, the printer went crazy and didn't stop printing)... The technicians fixed it pretty quickly. 

I have visited two different libraries for meetings in real life. Another meeting was at the storage, near the compact shelves. They are not working properly. We have lots of problems with them. Often we can't open the electric shelving system at all. It's very annoying, because the students want the books placed in it.

I have started a new project. This spring a student asked for the history of our old card catalogue. That's when I realized that there is no list of printed works about this library and its history. I have started to compile such a list and it's very interesting. There are quite a few works written about our collections, staff members, library architecture and organization. Many of them I was not aware of. I have engaged some colleagues in the work with this bibliography also.

Road trip

Last Saturday my father and his girlfriend came to visit. It was time to get the birthday present I was promised back in April. We went out north on a road trip in their motor home. The destination was not revealed. The first stop was a very old and renowned inn, made famous through a 1930s movie. Remarkably, I had never been there before. We had lunch there. The portions were large and the quality of the food was high. After this we drove south through a large forested nature preserve, where the highest point in Skåne is. It's not really something to boast about, it's 212 meters high. When we were almost out of the forest there was a fallen tree blocking the road. After a detour we continued south again and arrived at a very odd café. It's out in the middle of nowhere, housed in a villa, where the interiors were in the 1950s style. The cakes were homebaked and very tasty. After this we returned to my place. The road trip was a very nice present, I must say. The next day my vistors left, after having spent the night in the motor home. 

This Tuesday I met the new library boss in the lunchroom. He said he had heard of me and it was worrying to learn that my colleagues had told him that I know everything. It's hard to live up to such a reputation. The boss seems to be a very nice guy, who already now understands the challenging task of finding space for the enormous amounts of books that arrive here every day. 

The weather is changing to a more cool and rainy kind. It's slowly getting darker also. I have exchanged the flowers in the balcony box to heather. My mother and her boyfriend are back in Borås for the winter. 

Apple pie

The last two weeks of my vacation were also spent at the summerhouse for the most part. One day we went on a walk in a natural preserve where Skåne's highest waterfall can be viewed. There wasn't much water in it. It's not really high, either. We were really looking for mushrooms but found none. Another day my mother and I went on a shopping trip to Kristianstad. 

Last Monday I started working again. During my absence the library got a new boss. That position had not been filled for over a year and a half. The new boss is a guy, and I actually haven't met him in person yet. During my vacation some other things happened that were not good. I tried to delegate responsibility for a project and that failed for several different reasons. The first week at work was terrible and I rarely have a headache as often as I had then. There was also a meeting from hell, where we disagreed about several issues and it got loud. Remarkable. How difficult can it be to manage a library?

This Saturday there was no electricity in the house (or any of the nearby houses) when I woke up. I'm lucky I don't drink coffee, because the power didn't come back until after noon. Yesterday I drove one hour to visit one of my mother's friends. My mother and her boyfriend were already there when I arrived. We were treated to a very nice apple pie. It was so tasty my mother asked for the recipe. Both my mother and I buy fabric for this woman, so that was the main purpose of visiting. On the way home, we also managed to get to a charity shop just before closing, where I bought books for the library. 

Locally, there is now one more grocery store, Coop. It's not the cheapest one, but they have a nice deli assortment. There were special offers the opening week, of course.

Trip to Österlen

The past few weeks I have been to the summerhouse several times, at intervals that meant my houseplants could stay alive. It has been very nice to be able to jump into the ocean and relax in the sun. There have been quite a few crossword puzzles solved also. The weather has changed recently and now it's about 18-20 degrees with a fair amount of rain. 

This past Saturday it was time for another cemetery tour at Norra Strö church, hosted by me. Eleven people showed up for it, which was a manageable number. This event is one of very few that the historical society can arrange, since it's outside. We had a nice time talking about the gravestones and the people buried there. I also included some tips for keeping gravestones clean from moss and lichen. Afterwards I got invited to my father's place for lunch. 

This Monday my mother finally got her birthday present - a road trip to Österlen. It's the southeast section of Skåne. We went to the S:t Olof church, which is renowned for its decorated altars and murals. The janitor offered to open the church for us and he turned on a sound recording so we could get a guided tour. Very nice place, and outside we found mushrooms on the grass. We continued on to an apple orchard, where we picked fruit and had coffee. The lunch was at a high quality restaurant in Simrishamn. The buffet was Italian-inspired with cold cuts and lots of veggies and cheese. We ended the visit by going to a large flower shop far out in the countryside, made famous through a TV program. There was also a shop with garden furniture and decorations. The prices were high but it was still fun to see it. My mother also got to chat with the owner, to her great enjoyment.

Vacation

The last two weekends I have been to the summerhouse, visiting various family members. There was not much activity but we at least got to jump into the ocean. It's really hot and sunny weather, 25-30 degrees is common. The water is colder, maybe 18 degrees. Great waves.

I actually started my vacation this Monday but had to go to work already the next day for a meeting. This week there are two staff members in the stacks and they are managing because the summer workers are still here. The possiblity to request material was turned on again this week and there has been quite a lot to do. 

Last week I attended two nice lunches; one for a colleagues' 50th birthday (at Grand Hotel) and one because a temporary worker left (at a cafe in the Botanical Garden).

Today my car had to be handed in for service. It's close to the archive center so I spent the waiting time first shelving at the storage for a few hours and then doing research. The research was not for me but still interesting. I transcribed an estate inventory from 1870, where the actual names of this man's cows were listed: Heart, Flower and Star. It is highly unusual to get such details.

This evening I have a large load of laundry to do at my place - the washing machine at the summerhouse has broken down...

Visit to Höganäs

It's still very quiet at work. We are perhaps ten people in the building. Normally, there are 110 staff members. I'm the only one in my department here, so I take care of the interlibrary loans and incoming packages, as well as the internal desk. There really isn't much to do with this. The summerworkers did a very good job at the storage and are now in the main building again. Apart from desk duty, they also exchange old cardboard boxes in the stacks, shelve books and search for missing books.

I have engaged in the reference project recently. We are weeding the reference collection. It has never been done before and since this library is very old, some books have been there way too long. I'm currently reviewing the biographical works. It's my speciality, so I'm familiar with most of the titles. Even so, it's difficult to decide which books to keep there and which should be moved to the stacks. About 10-15% of the collection is moved, generally.

The weekend before last I was asked to go to a seaside town to the northeast, Höganäs. I'm pretty sure I have never been there before, which is remarkable. My sister, her husband and daughter had borrowed the family sailboat and made a stop in Höganäs. My mother and her boyfriend also came from the eastcoast. We had blueberry pie (mother's homemade) at some large benches at the harbor. Then we went on a short road trip north, to a castle. We walked in the park and visited a small museum. Later we found a barbecue place in the forest just by the ocean, where we grilled some sausages. Some family members jumped into the ocean but of course I had forgotten my swimsuit so I just sat and watched the others. In all, it was a very nice visit to Höganäs, and I might have to go back there because I noticed many signs for fleamarkets and outlet stores.

At the summersales I have made some bargains. I got two tops at 70% off, which I think is pretty affordable.

Shelving

The past two weeks the weather has been a lot more chilly and windy. It's only about 16 degrees outside. It's cold for being in July. Not nice for the people who are on vacation but I'm not complaining. The biggest problem now is to find an open restaurant where I can eat lunch. Most of them are closed. I will have to bring my own food most days, and my cooking abilities are not always that marvelous.

I have spent the past two weekends at home. There have been some things going on. I put new soil in most of the pots for my house plants, cleared some things from the attic to give to charity and went grocery shopping.

Last week I brought our new boss to the storage. I showed her around, explaining how we work and what issues we have with the electric shelving systems. I put her to work - she shelved some dissertations, while I shelved books from the old catalog. I'm saying we have been lucky with this recruitment. She definitely is not afraid of work.

This week we are only two staff members in the stacks, plus one stationed at the storage. It was decided earlier that we will not have any retrieval service at all starting this week and until August 10. It has already caused problems and people are wondering why on earth we have done something like this. It is extremely rare that our library (which is by far the biggest in the network) has no service during the summer. With the information we had in April, this was the right decision. But now when I know that we have four-five extra workers, we could have retrieved at least the books in the main library. We can't change it now, these extra workers have other projects to do.

Great waves

Last week it was really hot weather, around 30 degrees over the weekend. I was at the summerhouse, like usual. It was marvelous to jump into the ocean. Great waves and relatively warm water. My mother's 70th birthday was not really celebrated. She wanted a short road trip as a present, we hope to do that later this summer. The residents of Sweden are now allowed to travel within the country, this means that there are huge amounts of holiday makers in Skåne.

This week it's cooler weather, and more rain. At work I have been able to do several trips to the storage. Our temporary workers are vacuuming the floors there. We try to get that done at least once a year. We actually do have a cleaning service but they only vacuum the corridors, not in between the shelves.

Our new boss is beginning to find her way in the building. It's a complicated house because it has been added on several times and not all elevators go to the same floors. We had a long meeting, where I tried to explain what I actually do here. She knew a fair amount of it already but needed more details. She sat next to me one morning when I printed the requests, so she got some insight in that part of the job. 

Yesterday one of the residents of my birth town was laid to rest. We were not related but she was very interested in the local community and always encouraged me to do more research. Especially if it meant that the historical society would get a copy of the results. The funeral was different for several reasons. It was held outdoors in the pasture, in between the historical society museum and her residence. It was broadcast live on the funeral parlor's website. I attended by watching online. Rest in peace, Rose-Marie.

Midsummer

Things have slowed down at work. There are still quite a few returns to deal with but our temporary workers have done a good job of shelving. We now have five extra people here in the stacks part-time. They also man the information desk but it's only open five hours a day. There are always projects to do, for instance replace old boxes with new ones, review collections and move books.

Recently I received a newly produced book where my name was mentioned in the preface. I had helped with references, so it was not a big job.

Last week we had a nice AW under a tree in the botanical gardens. Last Monday our new department head started. We had an online meeting with her (we have to do this even though most people are in the same building). I really haven't seen her much, she has been busy with a lot of meetings. She has a lot to learn about the house and us.

The Midsummer weekend was spent at the summerhouse. It was a quiet celebration. We had the traditional herring for lunch and (very expensive) strawberries for dessert. In the garden there is a nesting box in a tree. It was occupied by a starfinch family. Just this weekend the parents decided to kick their kids out. It was intriguing to see the four small chickens fly for the first time. We watched from the deck only a few meters away. This weekend I went for a dip in the ocean for the first time this season. I'm not saying the water was warm but it was tolerable.

The weather forecast said lots of rain, thunder and lightning but we only saw a little rain. The weather is now sunny and warm. It's the time of year I suffer the most. I really can't stand hot weather.

Spa visit

At work there have been lots of meetings. All of them online. I get a lot of desk duty also. This is because two of my colleagues are working from home. One other has also been sick. I find myself covering for all of them. I haven't done much of my ordinary work lately so the piles on my desk are high. This Monday the library building opened up a little more so the patrons can access the reference collection and sit here and study. This time of year we get enormous amounts of returns. Normally I sort one or two carts a day, but now it's three or four. The book drop box is overflowing every morning.

This Monday the Economics library moved 72 meters of journals to our storage. They chose to hire a moving company to do the work. It turned out very well, they placed the journals on the shelves with great care.

I spent the Whitsun weekend at the summerhouse all alone. On that Saturday I hosted a tour of the Norra Strö cemetery. It was one of very few activities the historical society could arrange, since it was outdoors. Only a few people showed up but we had a good time. The visit to the summerhouse was relaxing, apart from the plant watering and lawn mowing.

This past Saturday I drove to the middle of Skåne. I picked my mother up at the train station and we went to a spa. It was very nice to soak in the hot pools (one indoor and one outdoor). There were foot baths, comfortable chairs, two saunas and rain showers. We had been given this for our birthdays (my mother turns 70 later). Dinner was really fancy; three course meal. Main dish was fish, dessert elderflower mousse. Not bad at all. We stayed overnight and the breakfast buffet was extensive. After a short walk in the neigborhood (we visited the middle point of Skåne, a metal monument at a creek) I drove my mother back to the summerhouse. I spent the afternoon there and got both lunch and dinner. Then drove home again in the evening.

Ascension weekend

The past three weeks things have been pretty much the same. I work, eat and sleep, basically. At work I have attended several online meetings. There was also one physical meeting at the Economics library but only three people attended so it was not crowded. My department also got to meet the new boss. It's a very experienced woman from a faculty library. I know her from before and think she is an excellent choice for this job. She starts mid-June.

About once a week I have been to the storage. Mostly to bring returns there and do some shelving. We still have no retrieving service from the storage. It's a problem for the students. The faculty libraries are forced to order those titles on interlibrary loan instead. It's absurd.

The previous weekend was the Ascension weekend so we had four days off. I spent it at the summerhouse. My mother, however, was in Borås. Instead my sister and her family came to visit. I hadn't seen them in a quite a while. In a moment of weakness I agreed to join the others on a 12 km hike in hilly terrain. It was an ordeal but I survived. Another day we also went on a drive in the countryside, stopping at a very old café. The walnut cake was very nice.

Interesting research

The service level at the library is down to record breaking low standards. This really isn't good. Many students will have problems later because of this. The bosses are worried about the staff, but so far we have no problems managing even though two people are at home.

The first weekend in May was spent at the summerhouse. May 1st is a holiday here, so it was worth the trip. We didn't do much, really. We sat in the sun on the deck or on the grass, depending on the sun's movement.

I have reviewed some of my research projects. One of them I can't finish because I need archive material placed in Stockholm. It's not possible to go there now. Recently, both me and a colleague have found more details about our respective seafaring Danish ancestors. Denmark had colonies in far away places. My ancestor Helsdingen sailed a route of Copenhagen, Cape in South Africa, Madagaskar, east coast of India, and sometimes also to China. These voyages took months and were very dangerous. I have found more details about his career and the ship he sailed with, Holsteen. This research is so interesting I borrowed a 400-page book in Danish about these colonies in India.

Errors

Last week the Geology library gave us about 70 boxes with journals. It took most of the day to load, unload, shelve and fold the cardboard. Lucky for me I didn't have to do any of it. I still had to be present at the storage to unlock doors and give advice. I engaged in shelving of our ordinary collection instead (it was much needed).

There isn't much going on here now. The weekend was slow. I did pick up the princess cake the local grocery store gave me for my birthday. It's already consumed. Yes, it was very tasty.

Monday I changed the tires on my car. Meaning I went to a tire business and they did it for me. There was never any real need for winter tires this season but it's mandatory so we have to comply. The weather is very sunny and warm right now.

At the library we are decreasing the service more and more. Starting yesterday we closed off all the reading rooms and facilities. It is now only possible to pick up reserved books and hand in returns. Nothing else. The collections the users can order from have been limited very much. Needless to say, our users are really angry. This time of year many students are writing papers and require a lot of printed materials. I have avoided the information desk and have stayed in the stacks. I don't want to have to defend a decision I am very much against. This will have long term effects on the student's academic results, and also their economy. If they can't hand in their papers they will not graduate.

At work many people are working from home. We use a communication service called Teams. I found myself to be included in three different groups on Teams. In the beginning I didn't look at it. It took quite a while before I understood that the absent colleagues send messages to me from home. They are searching for errors in the database. There are thousands, for various reasons. For instance, we have moved books to storage but the catalog post indicates the book is still in the main building.

Big birthday

The library management had decided to shorten the opening hours to two hours starting next Monday but the staff objected to this. Especially my department. I sent three emails with arguments against it and they listened. We still have a lot of visitors. It's not going to be possible to keep the appropriate distance if all of them have to come those two hours. In general, I don't think we should give up so soon. If there is staff enough to man the information desk we should stay open. My department will be the last to call it quits, I'm sure of it.

There are a few of my colleagues who probably have had the corona virus. It's difficult to tell because they don't get tested unless they are hospitalized, and they weren't. Other than this, I don't know anyone who has been affected. My parents are isolating themselves in their homes. My sister has reduced working hours, like many others. I'm lucky to have a secure employment (universities are government funded).

The first Sunday in April was my big birthday. I turned 50. This was actually celebrated, despite the situation in society. I invited my closest colleagues for brunch at my place. My father and his girlfriend also dared to come. We were only nine people but it was a fun party. I was given flowers and chocolate, and some cards contained promises of dinners and events to take place later when it's safe to do so.

The Easter weekend was spent at the summerhouse, where my mother and her boyfriend are in isolation. They have engaged in a lot of garden work to keep busy. The hygiene standards are high these days, so we kept a distance between us and we ate outside on the deck mostly. We didn't use the same towels and washed our hands often. My mother and I did a project, we made an Easter bunny out of fabric and yarn. I took the opportunity to wash my car, since I don't have access to a water hose at my place. My mother also gave me a haircut. The last day I went grocery shopping for them, so they will be ok for at least two weeks.

Research finds

The library is still open limited hours, and weekdays only. We have been told to call in sick if we have the slightest of colds or soar throats. Still nothing like that for me so I work almost like normal. The past few weeks I have had desk duty a lot and this will probably continue. We still have visitors, particularly for the special collections reading room. Many people whose jobs have closed down are now engaging in personal projects. We have many visitors who are studying old magazines, newspapers and archive material right now. The number of requests is down but we are certainly not idle.

The past two weekends I have done some spring cleaning. I cleaned the interiors of my car, moved items to the attic storage and got recycled items to the bins. I have also done some cooking, filing of documents and dusting. Last weekend I helped clearing out items to charity at a friend's place.

The research is continuing, of course. One of my colleagues talked about her grandfather, whose mother left him and moved to Denmark in 1911. I have done some research in Danish records but not that much. I looked for information and found quite a lot. It turns out that this woman died in 1970, without ever having contacted her family back in Sweden. Remarkable.

In my own research I have found the Helsdingen ancestors. They seem to have led interesting lives. They were Dutch from the beginning but they lived in South Africa. They were a part of a Dutch community living right at the Cape of Good Hope. One member of this family lived in Copenhagen and sailed for the Danish East India Company. His father and several siblings worked for the Dutch East India Company. My ancestor died on one of the voyages to Asia. It said in an old newspaper that he died 1827 in Bengal, present-day Bangladesh. This is just amazing. I have never known about this before, the only thing I knew was the surname, that's it.

Today there was a small celebration at work for my upcoming birthday. My colleagues gave me a large bouquet of flowers and then asked for my account number. I wondered about this but they had decided to give me money, suggesting I should use it on a subscription for a genealogy database. My colleagues know me quite well, it seems.

Worrying times

Friday evening we had a party at work. It was to celebrate the fact that we managed to convert all the open collections to RFID. It was a joint effort of the entire staff, all the way from the library boss to administrative staff. The party was nice, the buffet was great. There was even an ice-cream buffet for dessert.

The weekend was spent at work, like most weekends the past few months. The university is probably going to close soon and I have to do as much research as possible while I can. Saturday afternoon I went to Ikea to get some small things. My mother has (several times) suggested that I should get a free-standing clothes rack for my bedroom. Now I finally got one. Because of this I also made a reorganization and put the winter clothes away.

Monday my department got two extra workers completely unplanned. They were really supposed to do a project at the ephemera storage but since there was an accident it's closed, awaiting repairs. We were able to find some work for them, they are now moving books from the open collection to stacks, including database changes.

Many of my colleagues work from home and a few are sick (not from the virus though). There are not many people here, which is very noticeable. I have been able to start on the pile of tasks I normally never have time for. If things had been normal I would have spent most of my day solving other people's problems and getting interrupted a lot. Now I can sit at my desk for hours, without any visitors or calls. It's strange.

Tuesday the university decided to have all education online instead. The libraries will remain open, for now. Today it was decided that the opening hours will be reduced so I can't be here on weekends anymore. The society is shutting down; restaurants, businesses and schools cease operations. I was at the local grocery store recently and found many shelves empty. People are hoarding toilet paper, micromeals, crispbread, canned food and pasta. It's a worrying tendency.

Committee

The effects of the corona virus means that everybody who can will have to work from home now. It's not possible for me to retrieve books from a distance, so I have to be present at the library. People don't talk about anything else these days. We expect the university to be closed down soon. The library is not a critical institution for survival so we will probably be sent home within a few weeks. Most of Denmark will be closed for the next two weeks to try to prevent the virus from spreading. This will most likely happen here also.

I have been appointed to take part in a committee that will produce a collection development plan. We had the first meeting today. It will be a long process to get this done.

I have done even more research in my DNA matches and their trees. It's interesting to dig into the past. Some lost emigrants have been found and more details have been added to my own tree. The dream is to find my grandmother's grandmother's brother who was lost in the US. Perhaps one day...

More DNA

I have now also uploaded the DNA results to another website of the same kind. The matches were slightly different, it depends on what individuals have posted their results. The matches here were a little closer, at least the top ones. The first one that showed up was my father's first cousin in Denmark and the second was my grandmother's first cousin, also on my father's side.  There are matches from all the lines, which means that the research is correct. It's just that there are distant relatives listed, and I can't figure out the connection. One had Scottish ancestors and another was Norwegian, but if there is a connection, it's very far back. 

This Friday we hosted a study visit from Cardiff University. Their stacks manager Ruth visited us to look at our storages. It was like two nerds met. She and I have the same kind of job. We discussed collection management, potential book moving disasters, weeding, repository copies and things no one else would even think twice of. We brought her to all the storages; newspapers, general stacks and ephemera. She was a little envious of our budget and generous storage spaces.

When the ephemera staff came to the storage yesterday, they discovered that several wooden shelves had fallen over because the floor had given way. It's a metal grid floor that was really supposed to stand that weight. They had to discontinue all work there until everything is investigated and repaired.

Yesterday I participated in a walking meeting to spot junk and left-over items people have left in the staff areas of the main library. It's incredible how much stuff there was. Janitors and people coming here to do reparations have forgotten things on shelves, floors and in corners. Some doors we don't open that often, and now we got some surprises. A rolled up long rug covered in mould, empty cardboard tubes of unclear origin and several flower pots discarded a long time ago.

DNA results

The result of my DNA test has arrived. It was kind of interesting. They claim I'm only 57% Swedish. Most other is Norwegian and Finnish/Baltic with some English. I have researched all lines 250-300 years back and there is no one from Norway or England. Unless they mean that I have a viking heritage, which of course I do.

There were no close matches with other people. Many of them were 4th cousins or further away. Not everyone has posted their family trees so I couldn't figure out how all of them are related. I did look through the trees that were there and could for the most part see where the connections were. Most of the matches are descendants of emigrants. One of my Australian relatives showed up, and also a few of the Nelson descendants in the US.

I spent the weekend at work to do research for other people and to enter my family tree on the DNA website. I got four new requests and was lucky with two of them. I discovered that someone else has already done this research and posted it online. The two remaining will be more difficult, as they relate to Norwegian records and those records are not as extensive as here. Also got a request regarding German ancestors but can't do anything there, since much of the material has been destroyed during wars.

Birthday party

Last Monday I had to go directly from home to the storage to let some people in to our part of it. We have been complaining about a specific section of the electric shelving system ever since it was installed in 2012. Now the construction company decided to measure the floor to see if it was really not level. It wasn't. The difference is up to 2 cm per 2 m floor distance. It's quite a lot. The shelves get stuck very often because of the uneven floor and it is incredibly annoying. Now, getting this fixed is a task of its own. We will have to move 3000 meters of books first, before they can try to adjust the floor.

Last week the Historical Society asked for articles to enter in the annual publication. Just like most other times, the deadline was not far away. I was able to write two pages about local folklore and then suggested they should copy a small article published in another journal in 1920. I figured no one would get upset if we stole it 100 years later.

The woman I did research for earlier has contacated her half-sister. She got really surprised and said she had always thought she was an only child. She will do a DNA test to determine if my research came up with the correct father or not.

Last Thursday I went by train and bus to Borås. When I had almost reached Göteborg I realized that I had forgotten to pack some of the clothes. When I arrived I had to go shopping for a top. Had lunch and then continued on to Borås. I stayed with my mother and her boyfriend. The activity level was rather low, we only made some short shopping trips to get presents. On Sunday my niece had the birthday party for her 10th birthday. It was a family affair, all her grandparents were there for instance. My niece was happy about her presents, which included a gold necklace, clothes and ice-skates. The next day I got a ride all the way home by my father, which I was grateful for. The weather is terrible with very high winds and flooding. Train service has been disrupted many times lately.

Renovation finished

At work the situation has calmed down and we are working more normal hours. I filled in for a sick colleague at another department one day this past week. They are only two people who register new books and apply barcodes, and the reamaining person was feeling overwhelmed. Those two have to take care of all the books that about nine cataloguers are processing, so they are busy.

My father came back to do some more work in the hall, and he finished it by Thursday. It looks very nice. The floor boards are the same as in the kitchen. I am still in the process of moving back the items. At the same time I try to weed some things to give to charity. There are a bookcase, a glass cabinet and an open wardrobe in the hall.

The past two weekends I have engaged in research. A lot. I was able to come up with a suggestion for the woman who didn't know who her father was. It turns out that this man (now deceased) had a younger daughter. So someone will soon get the surprise of a lifetime.

Research requests

The first two proper weeks at work were terrible. The semester started on the 20th and we had so much to do. Last week the database was down for an upgrade for a day and a half and it was not a good time to get that done. The students got very upset when they couldn't get any books. It took a long time to work through the backlog. All staff members are now back from illness/vacation and it's working better.

The vice chancellor was very impressed by the research results he got. He came to the library to meet me and asked what I had done to find the information about his ancestors. I showed him the databases and digitized newspapers.

Recently I was given two other research cases. Both regard absent fathers. One case I could crack because the person who asked had a name, but it was still tricky. The name was common, so it required weeding through lots of entries in several databases. The other case I'm not sure I will ever solve. There is no name and the place was Stockholm. I'm investigating the person's DNA matches right now. It's very difficult.

Last week I attended a lecture at the Archive Center. It was about a woman who was a pioneer in the textile handcraft industry. She had a big project in the early 1900s, she travelled all over the country to photograph old textiles like rugs, table runners and cushions. She was in my hometown also. The images are preserved at a museum in Stockholm and they have been made available online. Otherwise I would never have known anything about her or her work.

At my place the ceiling in the hall has been painted and there are new floor boards. I haven't done any of it, it's my father. We talked about his already last year, when the kitchen renovation was going on. There was no time then but now my father took the initiative. There are some small details left to do but it looks very nice.

First work week

After working Jan 2 and 3, I drove to the summerhouse. I spent a very relaxing long weekend there. We really didn't do much. One day we went to the new mall in town to have lunch. Then we drove to a nature center and joined a guided tour nearby, where there were quite a few birds. It was pretty cold so we didn't stay long. Apart from this we watched sports on TV and solved crossword puzzles. I drove back on the Monday (which also was a holiday).

The first proper work week of the year was only four days but it was tough to get through. We had lots of returns to deal with. Two staff members were on vacation. The new semester starts in about a week and the students have already got their reading lists. We missed the deadline (which is at 1 PM) all days of last week. There was not much we could do to work faster. I was pretty exhausted by Friday afternoon.

Christmas and New Year's

I am back at work after a long vacation over the holidays. The weekend just before Christmas I went to two different malls. The traffic was terrible but I was lucky and got what I came for and then managed to sneak out again thanks to a city bus which blocked the road very conveniently (for me, that is).

Christmas Eve I went by train to Göteborg. This time the celebration was at my sister's sister-in-law's place. Very nice evening with lots of good food, the traditional TV classics and presents. I got hand lotion, a Christmas tree ornament, a book, chocolate truffles and a DNA-test (which will arrive by mail later). I'm rather curious of the last thing.

Christmas Day we had a very unusual lunch at my sister's place - turkey! This is more an English/American tradition but we liked it and I hope there will be a repeat. It tasted very good. I hadn't visited my sister for a while, they had remodelled quite a lot. Most of the upstairs was renovated with new floor boards, wallpaper and ceiling. The furniture was also rearranged. It looked very stylish.

The shopping at the after-Christmas sales was limited. My mother found kitchen curtains for me and I bought a top and some underwear. A few days later I went with my mother and her boyfriend to the summerhouse. It was pretty cold inside.

The New Year's celebration was quiet, we invited one of mother's friends for the meal. We had a three course meal; salmon sandwich, chicken & bacon casserole and frozen elderflower cheesecake. I made the dessert, which was a great success. There was not many fireworks, so it was a rather calm celebration of the new year and decade.

We have no snow in sight here and the darkness is surrounding us all. I am not complaining, as others have a much more horrible situation. The fires in Australia worry me a lot. I have heard from some relatives there, they say the smoke haze is problematic. Right now, I don't think any of our relatives have had to evacuate. The fires are heading east towards their residences, so it might just be a matter of time.