Another busy week passed by. The movers finished the work for the ephemera collection and asked for more things to do. I gave them the job of moving a collection within the same floor of the main library. Some parts of it are placed on temporary shelves and that's not so practical. I saved this job for last, because it had lower priority than the ephemera collection. Tuesday another group of four very strong guys from the moving company arrived here. They started removing the compact system in the basement that had been emptied by their colleagues earlier. It's made of metal and it was a tough job to dismantle it all. They had to separate the metal from the electric cables and rubber, because you get paid for the metal if you recycle it clean.
Thursday most of the librarians at the university were in Helsingborg for a workshop. The head librarian asked us to participate in the production of the strategy plan for the entire library network. It may sound crazy, but it was rather fun to discuss these matters with colleagues. The day ended with a very nice boat trip. We went onboard one of the ferries that go between Helsingborg and Elsinore in Denmark (one way takes 20 minutes) and spent four trips in the restaurant. (We never disembarked in Elsinore). We had a very nice buffet, where the fish was of especially high quality. I ate too much again.
The weather is pretty typical of a Swedish summer; very varied. Sun, clouds and rain. Sometimes all at once. Next Friday is Midsummer, and I will be at the summer house. So, probably no writing here for a while.
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Sunday, June 9, 2013
Shopping trip to Denmark
The week that passed we worked only Monday-Wednesday. The movers are now four (used to be seven), and they are moving ephemera material ahead of time. It's the most frequent material that will stay in the main library, so they are moving it three floors down. There is about 10 000 shelf meters of ephemera material in total and most of it will be moved to another storage this fall. The problem is that there are no shelves yet. There have been some administrative issues, but we hope they will start building the compact-shelves during the summer. Formally, this move is not my responsibility, but I'm involved anyway (because of my long experience from book moving).
Tuesday I was at a conference in Malmö called "Social media and the web". It was about all the ways you can present yourself (or a library, for that matter) on the internet. I gave a short presentation of my moving blog. The speech was in free form and without preparation. It turned out surprisingly well.
Thursday was our National Day, so the library was closed. I went on a shopping trip to Denmark. I usually do this, because it's a normal working day there, so all the stores are open. I'm not the only Swede who has discovered this. The triple-connected train was extremely crowded. I changed trains at the airport, and went to a mall just outside Copenhagen. I found a pair of sandals of the brand I use at work, which was really good. Also bought a dress on sale and a top at a very cheap department store. Had lunch at my favorite place, the Hard Rock Cafe. A great day.
The last days of the week I haven't done much. I tried to tidy up in my apartment (again). I don't understand how it can get that messy.
Tuesday I was at a conference in Malmö called "Social media and the web". It was about all the ways you can present yourself (or a library, for that matter) on the internet. I gave a short presentation of my moving blog. The speech was in free form and without preparation. It turned out surprisingly well.
Thursday was our National Day, so the library was closed. I went on a shopping trip to Denmark. I usually do this, because it's a normal working day there, so all the stores are open. I'm not the only Swede who has discovered this. The triple-connected train was extremely crowded. I changed trains at the airport, and went to a mall just outside Copenhagen. I found a pair of sandals of the brand I use at work, which was really good. Also bought a dress on sale and a top at a very cheap department store. Had lunch at my favorite place, the Hard Rock Cafe. A great day.
The last days of the week I haven't done much. I tried to tidy up in my apartment (again). I don't understand how it can get that messy.
Monday, June 3, 2013
The end of the book move
Last week was another tough one. It was also the last one for the book move. Yes, it is incredible, but it's actually over now! The last book was moved Friday. I can't believe that there was an ending to this madness. We still have lots of things to do, because all the book cases at the old storages must be torn down and thrown away, but the books have found home. The movers are still here, they are now moving some material from the ephemera collection to another floor of the main library.
Last week was also the annual picnic with boules, arranged by the social club at work. We were at the Botanical Gardens. The weather was a concern, because it rained during the day, but in the evening it was very nice and sunny. We had a very good time. There is nothing like competing for some silly prizes with your colleagues.
Saturday I was at work again, and in the afternoon I took the bus to a small town outside Lund. I had, along with some other colleagues, been invited to a colleague's house for a barbeque. It rained very much, so we sat inside. It was fun to meet everybody outside of work.
And a special thank you to my father (if he should ever read this), for driving down to my place one evening, just to fix the lock on my apartment door. It was not working properly and the door was very difficult to unlock. A little scary, since it's the only exit from my apartment. It took about 30 minutes to grease all the components and it helped a great deal. Dinner (home cooked) was the only payment.
Last week was also the annual picnic with boules, arranged by the social club at work. We were at the Botanical Gardens. The weather was a concern, because it rained during the day, but in the evening it was very nice and sunny. We had a very good time. There is nothing like competing for some silly prizes with your colleagues.
Saturday I was at work again, and in the afternoon I took the bus to a small town outside Lund. I had, along with some other colleagues, been invited to a colleague's house for a barbeque. It rained very much, so we sat inside. It was fun to meet everybody outside of work.
And a special thank you to my father (if he should ever read this), for driving down to my place one evening, just to fix the lock on my apartment door. It was not working properly and the door was very difficult to unlock. A little scary, since it's the only exit from my apartment. It took about 30 minutes to grease all the components and it helped a great deal. Dinner (home cooked) was the only payment.
Monday, May 27, 2013
Incredible week
Last week was the kind of week I'm glad I survived. The workload was incredible. There were some events that stand out from the rest. Wednesday I arrived 15 minutes late to the department meeting because the movers needed help right then. During the meeting I had to leave to answer my cell phone three times. The movers needed more help. I don't remember much from what was said at that meeting. The same day an entire load of carts fell over in the truck during transportation. The strap securing the carts broke. Many of the books ended up in a total mess on the floor. It was a hard job to get them all in order again.
The decisions made at the last crisis meeting were not in my favor. I hoped to get vacation soon, but I will have to continue being in charge of the movers, even though their tasks will change. We now have a large number of empty bookcases in several different storages. The movers will dismantle them, some to discard and some to re-use elsewhere. It's going to be a long summer for all of us.
Saturday I was at work. No surprises there. In the afternoon I went to a big mall outside Malmö, just to do something that wasn't work-related.
The decisions made at the last crisis meeting were not in my favor. I hoped to get vacation soon, but I will have to continue being in charge of the movers, even though their tasks will change. We now have a large number of empty bookcases in several different storages. The movers will dismantle them, some to discard and some to re-use elsewhere. It's going to be a long summer for all of us.
Saturday I was at work. No surprises there. In the afternoon I went to a big mall outside Malmö, just to do something that wasn't work-related.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Last book in place at new storage
We have an extreme workload at the library this time of year. Many books are requested and many are returned. The movers have now placed the last book at the new storage. At least for a while. (Next year we will get more books from the faculty libraries). It feels strange that we have actually come this far. They have emptied one more of the old storages also. There is one left, and the books placed there will be moved to the main library. We started on that last week. There are some collections that will be moved within the house, and I have challenged the movers to do all the tasks at the same time. It has required my presence quite a lot. It is amazing that they can understand the strange system we have here. We place our books from the bottom and up on the shelves. That has never caused any problems to them.
Yesterday the Archive Center (where we have our new storage) was officially opened, because now all the archives are in place. Many dignified people attended the ceremonies. All the different archives (about eight) had displays of their records and collections. The Institute of Biology had a large skeleton of a giraffe in the main hall. We had some books to show in our storage. Much easier to handle. I brought books from our varied collection; children's books, sports magazines, scientific reports, medical journals, gossip magazines, biographies, and a few more. There were several groups of people walking around to look and I think I gave the introductory speech about seven times or so. All went well and I could actually answer all the questions I got.
Today my grandfather turns 99. Yes, it's mind-blowing.
Yesterday the Archive Center (where we have our new storage) was officially opened, because now all the archives are in place. Many dignified people attended the ceremonies. All the different archives (about eight) had displays of their records and collections. The Institute of Biology had a large skeleton of a giraffe in the main hall. We had some books to show in our storage. Much easier to handle. I brought books from our varied collection; children's books, sports magazines, scientific reports, medical journals, gossip magazines, biographies, and a few more. There were several groups of people walking around to look and I think I gave the introductory speech about seven times or so. All went well and I could actually answer all the questions I got.
Today my grandfather turns 99. Yes, it's mind-blowing.
Monday, May 13, 2013
Summer house weekend
Another week with days off passed. Thursday was Ascension Day. I spent it going through the closets to throw out clothes. I was supposed to take leave also Friday, but no one else could retrieve books from the old collection so I worked a few hours. No big deal, as I was on my way to the summer house and had to go to Lund to change trains anyway.
The weekend was mostly filled with heavy work. My mother had just moved down for the season and we had to get everything ready. My sister and her daughter were there also. We mowed the lawn, dug up a flower bed and put new garden earth in it, planted flowers and scrubbed the deck on the veranda. Saturday we went on a fleamarket round in Åhus and found a few items worth buying. I returned home by train Sunday.
The weekend was mostly filled with heavy work. My mother had just moved down for the season and we had to get everything ready. My sister and her daughter were there also. We mowed the lawn, dug up a flower bed and put new garden earth in it, planted flowers and scrubbed the deck on the veranda. Saturday we went on a fleamarket round in Åhus and found a few items worth buying. I returned home by train Sunday.
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Window washing
This past week Walpurgis Night was Tuesday and May Day (our Labor Day) was Wednesday. Tuesday would normally be a working day, but the movers had asked for leave. There is a gigantic party in the city park that day, and it's such a special event that the movers had worked extra hours prior to it, just to be able to attend. It had, according to what they said afterwards, been a great party.
I spent those two days working in my apartment. The windows needed cleaning. I can't even remember the last time I did that. They were incredibly dirty. The apartment is on the third floor, so people wouldn't really notice from the outside (at least I hope so). It started bothering me when the light returned to this part of the world after that long, dark winter. It's sunny and about 15 centigrades now, so it looks like spring is here.
Saturday I went shopping in Malmö. I haven't been there in quite a while, so there were lots of stores to visit. I went to several different malls and also the city center. Noticed a second hand store I haven't seen before. I got a tunic in a yellow pattern, a sleeveless top, an orange bracelet and a pair of shoes.
There were three working days this week, and the movers were at the main library to load one of the donated collections. I have never looked at those books before, because I thought that they were placed in a correct order. It turned out that they weren't. It got complicated pretty quickly and I had to engage in the move much more than I had planned.
Finally I would like to say that I find it remarkable that no one told me Lester Nelson passed away. This was in December 2011 and you might think I would keep track of this, but no one has said anything. I found out yesterday from www.findagrave.com, where the obituary is posted. Lester's impact on my life is immeasurable. His visit to Sweden in 1991 (when he located us) is what got the entire family history research a whole new perspective. He provided family information, got me in contact with other relatives and helped me in every possible way when I visited the US. Our communication has been very important to me. It opened up my eyes to the world.
I spent those two days working in my apartment. The windows needed cleaning. I can't even remember the last time I did that. They were incredibly dirty. The apartment is on the third floor, so people wouldn't really notice from the outside (at least I hope so). It started bothering me when the light returned to this part of the world after that long, dark winter. It's sunny and about 15 centigrades now, so it looks like spring is here.
Saturday I went shopping in Malmö. I haven't been there in quite a while, so there were lots of stores to visit. I went to several different malls and also the city center. Noticed a second hand store I haven't seen before. I got a tunic in a yellow pattern, a sleeveless top, an orange bracelet and a pair of shoes.
There were three working days this week, and the movers were at the main library to load one of the donated collections. I have never looked at those books before, because I thought that they were placed in a correct order. It turned out that they weren't. It got complicated pretty quickly and I had to engage in the move much more than I had planned.
Finally I would like to say that I find it remarkable that no one told me Lester Nelson passed away. This was in December 2011 and you might think I would keep track of this, but no one has said anything. I found out yesterday from www.findagrave.com, where the obituary is posted. Lester's impact on my life is immeasurable. His visit to Sweden in 1991 (when he located us) is what got the entire family history research a whole new perspective. He provided family information, got me in contact with other relatives and helped me in every possible way when I visited the US. Our communication has been very important to me. It opened up my eyes to the world.
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