I have worked all summer so far and parts of it has been an ordeal to get through. Last week it was 31 degrees outside and not much lower inside the library. I spent several days at the storage, where there is 18 degrees. In the corridor (which has a glass roof) it was probably over 40 degrees. Not pleasant.
Earlier, in May, we hired a moving company to move 165 shelf meters of books to the storage. It went really badly. To begin with, the staff couldn't find the way to the library. During the day we got delayed because the gate at the storage was unexpectedly locked, both elevators we had to use only functioned occasionally and it rained like hell. We couldn't get everything moved even though I assisted. A few weeks later we did the rest ourselves.
The past few months we have received some minor book collections from the Biology library, the Physics library and a professor of Medicine. We are happy to get additions to our collection.
In May we also got a visit from a Canadian scholar who was interested in books as a physical object. We have a small book coellction with handmade covers she wanted to see. The easiest way was to bring her to the storage, so that we didn't have to retrieve five meters of books.
In late May/early June we had a lot of returned books to take care of, so we have been busy. In late June we got three summer workers, all women. They divide their time between the desk, the stacks and the storage. They are very efficient and learned most of the routines here quickly.
I have been at the summerhouse several weekends, including the Midsummer weekend of course. I have been to many of the flea markets in eastern Skåne. There is a new charity shop where I bought several pieces of clothing. At one big fleamarket arranged outdoors by a soccer club, it rained so much that many items couldn't be sold. Only bought some small things there. My mother and I were standing in the town square of Åhus one Saturday in July, where we sold craft items my mother had made. We sold aprons, necklaces, tote bags and cushions. To our great surprise it went really well.
I have made some excursions to other towns also. In May I was the guide at the cemetery tour in my birth town. It was very windy that day, but we persisted. In June I went to the History Days in Lund. There was a new exhibit in the History Museum about the university. Also joined a short guided tour there, which happened to be about old coins. On our national holiday June 6 I usually go to Denmark. This year the stores there were not open because of the Pentecost weekend. This fact I didn't realize until I got there, so I returned and spent the day in a mall in Malmö instead. After this I unfortunately got food poisoning and was sick for nearly a week.
In mid-July my mother and I attended a great birthday party at a local history museum in northeastern Skåne. It included a quiz with questions about the birthday girl (who turned 75).
