Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.10.2018, Síða 11

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Lögberg-Heimskringla • 1. október 2018 • 11
In the summer of 2018
I had the privilege of
working as an intern for
Icelandic Roots to catalogue
their library. This internship
was credited towards my
master’s degree in library
and information science at
the University of Iceland,
not to mention the fun and
the knowledge I gained while
doing it.
Icelandic Roots is a five-
year-old 501(c)(3) non-profit
organization, located in Fargo,
North Dakota. Their mission
is to educate, preserve and
promote Icelandic heritage by
connecting cousins across the
Atlantic Ocean and around
the world. Over these five
years, a good number of books
have been donated to the
organization. Many of these
books are written in Icelandic
or they concentrate on Iceland
or Icelandic matters. It is
estimated that the number of
books and magazines in the
Icelandic Roots Library is
3,500, but it is hard to tell for
sure until they have all been
catalogued.
For the cataloguing I
used Microsoft Excel and
divided one sheet into
different columns where
I wrote, for example, the
name of the book, author
or editor, publisher, year of
publication, etc. I also added
any additional interesting
information about the book
or magazine in one column.
Each book was also given
search words and a Dewey
decimal classification number.
The entries in the Excel sheet
totalled 1,144. Few entries had
multiple volumes of the same
magazine so I estimate that
in total I handled close to
1,600 books, magazines,
maps, journals, letters, etc.
At the end of the summer the
catalogue was printed on A3-
sized paper with a total of 140
pages.
Many interesting books
are found in the Icelandic
Roots Library, some very old
and some new, some big and
heavy while others are small
and thin. The oldest book
printed in Icelandic language
is the book Leiðarvísir til að
lesa hið Nýa Testament með
guðrækni og greind, einkum
handa ólærðum lesurum (A
Guide to Reading the New
Testament, Especially for
Untrained Readers), published
in Copenhagen in 1822. The
books published from 1821
to 1860 total 18, while 85
books were published between
1861 and 1900 and 108 were
published between 1901
and1920. The youngest books
were published in 2016 – a
volume of the magazine The
Icelandic Connection and the
book The Travels of Reverend
Ólafur Egilsson: The Story
of the Barbary Corsair Raid
on Iceland in 1627 by Ólafur
Egilsson. Some of the old
books had the title page
missing or the publishing
year was not shown in the
book; those are not included
in the numbers above. The
biggest and heaviest book
is Guðbrandsbiblía, issued
in the 1950s as a reprint of
Guðbrandur’s Bible from the
late 1500s. This book weighs
6.6 kilograms or 14.5 pounds.
The library consists of
books on many themes – for
example, Christianity books
(psalms, bibles, Christian
studies, and reading for
children etc.), picture books,
books on Iceland (including
geography, geology, folklore,
wildlife, botany, etc.), novels,
short stories, folktales, poetry,
genealogy, and many more.
Most of the older books
were religious books, such as
psalms and bibles, but also a
few novels. I am certain that
some of these books came
from Iceland with the settlers
back in the late 1800s or early
1900s. One particular book
was a challenge to catalogue.
It was in poor shape; the
title page was missing so no
information on the book’s title
or publishing year could be
found. After a while, with the
help of a flashlight, I was able
to barely read the title on the
book’s end, Nýa testamenti
og sálmar Davíðs (The New
Testament and the Psalms
of David). I was not able to
find any other information
on the book itself. However,
the interesting part is that
the owners’ names were
written inside the book and
by searching the Icelandic
Roots genealogy database, I
was able to find where they
came from. I was very excited
to see they emigrated from
the county Dalasýsla, from
farms I know well. Another
pleasant surprise for me was
when I found two volumes of
Bernskan (The Childhood),
written by my great-uncle,
Sigurbjörn Sveinsson.
Icelandic Roots is grateful
for all the books that have been
donated to the organization in
the past five years. Most of the
books that were catalogued
this summer were donated
by a retired librarian from
Chicago, George Hanson.
He had a good collection of
books in Icelandic and books
in English that focused on
Iceland or Icelandic matter.
Icelandic Roots is honored
to receive his wonderful
collection and all of his books
are kept together as the George
Hanson Icelandic Library.
As the library grows,
more books will need to be
catalogued in addition to
those who I could not finish
this summer. Therefore, it
is my hope that I will get
the opportunity to continue
my work in the near future.
I would like to thank
Icelandic Roots for this great
opportunity for me to be their
intern this summer.
More information on
Icelandic Roots can be found
on www.icelandicroots.com.
Summer internship at Icelandic Roots
Left: Edda holding Guðbrandsbiblía. This Bible weighs 6.6 kg (14.5 pounds).
Above: The book that was brought over with the settlers from Dalasýsla.
Þórdís Edda Guðjónsdóttir
Reykjavík, Iceland
Bernskan, volumes 1 and 2, by Sigurbjörn Sveinsson.