It was a three-day working week for me. I have taken a couple of extra days off around Easter. I had to, because I have too many hours overtime. I really shouldn't be away from work right now, there are so many things we have to do before the movers come on the 16th. I spend most of my days in the storages, re-organizing the collections and tidying up. I had desk duty today, and there were more visitors than I thought there would be. This week many people are on vacation.
A few days ago the 1940 US federal census was released. It's available at several sites, familysearch.org and archives.com, for instance. It will take time to load all the images (eight states done so far on familysearch.org), and they are not indexed yet. The number of volunteers needed for that job is gigantic, but I'm sure it will get done. There are more than 130 million names in the 1940 census. I'm thinking of waiting until the summer before I even start assembling the list of people to search for. That will be a long list... Over the years I have done a fair amount of research. Getting the research up-dated will be a pretty big job.
Tomorrow is my birthday and I have already received some greetings and some cards, thank you for that!
I'm going to the summer house for Easter, and so are my family members from Borås. Easter is traditionally a time when local artists (sculptors, painters and others) display their work. It's very popular to drive around and look at the different styles of art.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Five cakes
It was a slightly easier week at work, compared to the one before. The chiropractor asked what I really do to get my back in such a bad shape, and when I said I carry a lot of books around, he shook his head and sighed. He fixed my neck problem, which was a relief.
We actually have a starting date for the move - April 16. It will be a big job to get everything ready in time. There are many small details that have to be attended to before they can start moving the books. Just getting a vacuum cleaner with a flat brush has proven to be difficult. We have to vacuum the books first, otherwise there will be health problems.
Friday we had several reasons to celebrate: three birthdays (one was mine), one young colleague passed her driving test and one colleague retired. We had a total of five different cakes, three for the morning coffee and two in the afternoon. Just to break a record several of us tasted all the cakes. I can usually eat anything, but I felt pretty sick in the evening. But they were all delicious!
Saturday I did a tricky trip to get to a mall. I took the train to Lund, a city bus one stop, walked to another bus station, and then took a regional bus to a small village half way to Malmö. There is a pretty big second hand store there. I hadn't been there in a while, so I browsed all of it. Got some small things, a glass candy bowl, for instance. After an hour I continued on another bus to the mall about five stops further south. The trip would have been a lot easier if I hadn't gone to the second hand store (just one train ride). At the mall I had lunch and then looked in the stores, but there was just one thing I bought, a wrist watch. When I got to the train station, I had missed the northbound train by a few minutes, so I went the other direction instead, to Malmö. The stores are open until four or five on Saturdays, so there was time to look also in those places. Made some small purchases. I passed by one of the squares and it seemed like major riots were expected, because there were about 15 police-cars and several mounted units armed for battle. I walked by quickly and continued on to the stores. That city would be so much more enjoyable if there hadn't been such crazy people there. In this case I think there were no problems after all. Most of the bad incidents this weekend were reported to have happened in Copenhagen. I guess the police here thought there would be problems also in Malmö.
Today I spent a few hours at work to get some research done. Against better judgement, I also ate some of the leftovers of the Friday cakes. They were really tasty.
We actually have a starting date for the move - April 16. It will be a big job to get everything ready in time. There are many small details that have to be attended to before they can start moving the books. Just getting a vacuum cleaner with a flat brush has proven to be difficult. We have to vacuum the books first, otherwise there will be health problems.
Friday we had several reasons to celebrate: three birthdays (one was mine), one young colleague passed her driving test and one colleague retired. We had a total of five different cakes, three for the morning coffee and two in the afternoon. Just to break a record several of us tasted all the cakes. I can usually eat anything, but I felt pretty sick in the evening. But they were all delicious!
Saturday I did a tricky trip to get to a mall. I took the train to Lund, a city bus one stop, walked to another bus station, and then took a regional bus to a small village half way to Malmö. There is a pretty big second hand store there. I hadn't been there in a while, so I browsed all of it. Got some small things, a glass candy bowl, for instance. After an hour I continued on another bus to the mall about five stops further south. The trip would have been a lot easier if I hadn't gone to the second hand store (just one train ride). At the mall I had lunch and then looked in the stores, but there was just one thing I bought, a wrist watch. When I got to the train station, I had missed the northbound train by a few minutes, so I went the other direction instead, to Malmö. The stores are open until four or five on Saturdays, so there was time to look also in those places. Made some small purchases. I passed by one of the squares and it seemed like major riots were expected, because there were about 15 police-cars and several mounted units armed for battle. I walked by quickly and continued on to the stores. That city would be so much more enjoyable if there hadn't been such crazy people there. In this case I think there were no problems after all. Most of the bad incidents this weekend were reported to have happened in Copenhagen. I guess the police here thought there would be problems also in Malmö.
Today I spent a few hours at work to get some research done. Against better judgement, I also ate some of the leftovers of the Friday cakes. They were really tasty.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Tough week
This past week was tough at work. I have offered the other libraries to take books from a collection we have to discard, and they sent me long lists of books they wanted. I got a 13 page document from one library, so I have been at the storage to pack boxes, and then deliver them. I noticed already mid-week that my neck wasn't doing well and it got worse over the weekend. I have done a lot of heavy lifting, and it affected also my back. I have an appointment at the chiropractor's tomorrow, and I hope he will be able to straighten everything out.
We still don't have any movers, which isn't a disaster, because the new storage needs cleaning first. It will take time to hire someone to do that. There were also some issues with doors and lights, so we will wait a while.
Despite my neck problems, I spent some time in town Saturday. Got a top on sale, and some small things. Walked through the new indoor market, but was not so impressed. They seem to have forgotten to soundproof it. I also did some research at work. Daylight savings time started today, and I actually did remember to change the clocks. It was a very nice day with lots of sunlight, so I went for a walk in the village. I needed something for dinner, so I got salmon that turned out to be surprisingly tasty.
We still don't have any movers, which isn't a disaster, because the new storage needs cleaning first. It will take time to hire someone to do that. There were also some issues with doors and lights, so we will wait a while.
Despite my neck problems, I spent some time in town Saturday. Got a top on sale, and some small things. Walked through the new indoor market, but was not so impressed. They seem to have forgotten to soundproof it. I also did some research at work. Daylight savings time started today, and I actually did remember to change the clocks. It was a very nice day with lots of sunlight, so I went for a walk in the village. I needed something for dinner, so I got salmon that turned out to be surprisingly tasty.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Work and research
I re-calculated the entire book collection one more time. There will be problems getting everything to fit into the new storage. I kind of suspected this. The past few weeks I have spent many hours in the storages, trying to figure out what to do about it. I have discarded a large part of a collection where we had several hundred copies of every book. Pretty unnecessary to keep all of them, especially since no one asks for them anymore.
The climate is a little warmer here, around 10 centigrades in the day. Cold in the mornings, though. I still wear my winter coat. It's lighter out and many spring flowers are blooming already.
Yesterday (Saturday) I went shopping at a mall outside Malmö. There were very few items purchased, only a top and a scarf. But it was still interesting to see the spring collections. I also got some of my favorite flowers, a bouquet of yellow tulips.
Today I went to work to do some research. The computer there is a lot better than mine. I continued on the Göteborg research, and made some progress. In one family I researched the husband "forgot" to report the death of his wife (at least that's what I think). She was buried properly, but the fact that she had died wasn't entered into the deathrecords until six years later. That was actually the first time I have seen anything like that in Swedish records. It must be unusual, because here it was the same organization which was in charge of both burials and record keeping. I have learned a lot from this case, definitely.
The climate is a little warmer here, around 10 centigrades in the day. Cold in the mornings, though. I still wear my winter coat. It's lighter out and many spring flowers are blooming already.
Yesterday (Saturday) I went shopping at a mall outside Malmö. There were very few items purchased, only a top and a scarf. But it was still interesting to see the spring collections. I also got some of my favorite flowers, a bouquet of yellow tulips.
Today I went to work to do some research. The computer there is a lot better than mine. I continued on the Göteborg research, and made some progress. In one family I researched the husband "forgot" to report the death of his wife (at least that's what I think). She was buried properly, but the fact that she had died wasn't entered into the deathrecords until six years later. That was actually the first time I have seen anything like that in Swedish records. It must be unusual, because here it was the same organization which was in charge of both burials and record keeping. I have learned a lot from this case, definitely.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Impressive shelves
Just a few things to report from here. Thursday a library school student joined me during the storage round. Usually they also spend a few hours in the stacks, but there was no time for that. He noted the bad working conditions at some of the storages. Very dusty, dark and generally unhealthy.
Friday afternoon five of us were given a tour of the new storage facility. It is impressive. A long building with shelves from floor to ceiling. It's a compact shelving system, the newest version with advanced electronics. Of course, when they showed us how to operate the shelves, it quit working. They got it fixed pretty soon, though. Everything has been delayed, but we are beginning to see things happening. The new carts and chairs we ordered have arrived. The technician has arranged for computers and printers for the office.
I asked for the exact number of shelves that had been put in, and did some math when I got back to the library. The collections we want to place at the storage will fit with a narrow margin. At least I hope so. I will have to recalculate the entire move to be sure of it.
Friday afternoon five of us were given a tour of the new storage facility. It is impressive. A long building with shelves from floor to ceiling. It's a compact shelving system, the newest version with advanced electronics. Of course, when they showed us how to operate the shelves, it quit working. They got it fixed pretty soon, though. Everything has been delayed, but we are beginning to see things happening. The new carts and chairs we ordered have arrived. The technician has arranged for computers and printers for the office.
I asked for the exact number of shelves that had been put in, and did some math when I got back to the library. The collections we want to place at the storage will fit with a narrow margin. At least I hope so. I will have to recalculate the entire move to be sure of it.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Borås weekend
It was a very nice visit in Borås. Like every time my mother kept me busy. Saturday we worked at the thrift store. This time I was in the clothes section. It's remarkable how many clothes fall down from the hangers when the customers look through the collection. I tried to keep it tidy and in good order, but it was a never-ending job. Still fun to see that part of the store.
Late afternoon we celebrated my brother-in-law's 40th birthday with a very tasty salmon meal with vegetables and potato gratin. There were only crumbles left of the chocolate cake with blackberries we had for dessert. It was a family oriented event including the immediate family members. We touched on the subject of genealogy (strange, isn't it?), and I got a research task to deal with. I have started already, and it has turned out to be a challenge. The people lived in Göteborg, and were very reluctant to give correct information when moving between the parts of the (surprisingly large) city. One person ended up with three different death dates (not even close to each other), depending on what source I checked. It might take a while to get it sorted out.
Sunday my mother and I used the gift certificates we got for Christmas and spent a few hours at a spa. We got back massage, sat in the jacuzzi and also the sauna. What a luxury. We had a great time there.
I had taken Monday off (to reduce my incredible overtime a little), so my mother and I went shopping. I guess no one is surprised to hear this. One store was closing, and had 75% off everything. We got some necklaces there, mainly to get the beads to make other pieces of jewelry. There was also a shoe sale, and I actually found a pair of leather boots at a very affordable price. It's unusual to find shoes in my size at sales. My mother saw the chance of getting me an early birthday present in the Hemtex store, I got a new bedding set. I returned home by train Monday evening.
The return to work wasn't that pleasant. One patron had requested over 70 items from the scanned catalogue, and it crashed the entire system. We didn't set a limit when we built the system, but I think we have to now. It was hard work to retrieve all those books, especially since the scanned image of the catalogue card is hard to read.
Late afternoon we celebrated my brother-in-law's 40th birthday with a very tasty salmon meal with vegetables and potato gratin. There were only crumbles left of the chocolate cake with blackberries we had for dessert. It was a family oriented event including the immediate family members. We touched on the subject of genealogy (strange, isn't it?), and I got a research task to deal with. I have started already, and it has turned out to be a challenge. The people lived in Göteborg, and were very reluctant to give correct information when moving between the parts of the (surprisingly large) city. One person ended up with three different death dates (not even close to each other), depending on what source I checked. It might take a while to get it sorted out.
Sunday my mother and I used the gift certificates we got for Christmas and spent a few hours at a spa. We got back massage, sat in the jacuzzi and also the sauna. What a luxury. We had a great time there.
I had taken Monday off (to reduce my incredible overtime a little), so my mother and I went shopping. I guess no one is surprised to hear this. One store was closing, and had 75% off everything. We got some necklaces there, mainly to get the beads to make other pieces of jewelry. There was also a shoe sale, and I actually found a pair of leather boots at a very affordable price. It's unusual to find shoes in my size at sales. My mother saw the chance of getting me an early birthday present in the Hemtex store, I got a new bedding set. I returned home by train Monday evening.
The return to work wasn't that pleasant. One patron had requested over 70 items from the scanned catalogue, and it crashed the entire system. We didn't set a limit when we built the system, but I think we have to now. It was hard work to retrieve all those books, especially since the scanned image of the catalogue card is hard to read.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
New storage
I forgot the most important thing that happened last week - Sweden's crown princess had her first baby. Big headlines everywhere for the much awaited event. It's a girl, name will be Estelle.
The situation at work is increasingly crazy. On average I now work between 9 and 10 hours a day. This Tuesday we got to visit the new storage for the first time. It's almost finished. We haven't been allowed to see it before because it's a building site. It's a big complex where the regional archive, hospital archive, city archive and a few others will have their storages also. We already have a part of the old building, so it will be convenient when the books from the four other storages are in place here. We will move about 40 000 shelfmeters to this storage. It will take more than a year. Next week we will hire movers. The preparations have been long and complicated, and we can't wait to get started on the actual move. So soon I will have even longer working days.
Wednesday morning we had another get-together with the staff at the head office. We had presentations of our respective projects and collections. I gave a short speech on a project we will start soon. It's challenging to describe a database without having a computerscreen to point at, but I think the message reached the audience. At least I heard afterwards that my presentation had been the most understandable..... Remarkable.
Today our new boss started working. It's a librarian from Denmark, she has experience from libraries in both countries. She will be in charge of the head office and the main library (where I work). She will have her hands full, without a doubt. We don't really know her, but from what we have heard, we think she will be an asset to the library network.
I have browsed the offers at the annual book sale, but haven't made any purchases. It's not the same as before, when you could make huge bargains. These days the book stores buy the stock especially for the sale, so all stores have the same offers. Not so interesting, in other words.
Tomorrow I'm going to visit my family members in Borås. My brother-in-law will celebrate his big birthday (40) on Saturday.
The situation at work is increasingly crazy. On average I now work between 9 and 10 hours a day. This Tuesday we got to visit the new storage for the first time. It's almost finished. We haven't been allowed to see it before because it's a building site. It's a big complex where the regional archive, hospital archive, city archive and a few others will have their storages also. We already have a part of the old building, so it will be convenient when the books from the four other storages are in place here. We will move about 40 000 shelfmeters to this storage. It will take more than a year. Next week we will hire movers. The preparations have been long and complicated, and we can't wait to get started on the actual move. So soon I will have even longer working days.
Wednesday morning we had another get-together with the staff at the head office. We had presentations of our respective projects and collections. I gave a short speech on a project we will start soon. It's challenging to describe a database without having a computerscreen to point at, but I think the message reached the audience. At least I heard afterwards that my presentation had been the most understandable..... Remarkable.
Today our new boss started working. It's a librarian from Denmark, she has experience from libraries in both countries. She will be in charge of the head office and the main library (where I work). She will have her hands full, without a doubt. We don't really know her, but from what we have heard, we think she will be an asset to the library network.
I have browsed the offers at the annual book sale, but haven't made any purchases. It's not the same as before, when you could make huge bargains. These days the book stores buy the stock especially for the sale, so all stores have the same offers. Not so interesting, in other words.
Tomorrow I'm going to visit my family members in Borås. My brother-in-law will celebrate his big birthday (40) on Saturday.
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