UNEARTHING HIDDEN COLLECTIONS: A ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION WITH NORDIC STUDIES LIBRARIANS��CHAIR:�HELENE LARSSON POUSETTE��PRESENTERS:�MARA EGHERMAN, MA, MLIS; EBSCO INFORMATION SERVICES��TODD MICHELSON-AMBELANG, MA, MLIS, PhD; UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN – MADISON��TROY WELLINGTON SMITH, PhD, MLS; LIBRARY OF CONGRESS��BRIAN VETRUBA, MA, MISt; UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA – TWIN CITIES��L. CHRISTINE ERICSON, MLIS; UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA – ANCHORAGE��.

Access slides at z.umn.edu/sasslibrarians or use

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EUROPEAN STUDIES SECTION

SCANDINAVIAN DISCUSSION GROUP

In recent decades, in many countries, research done with governmental funds has been mandated to be freely available in digital form. The Nordic countries were some of the first to initiate this standard.

Open access (OA) is a set of principles and practices through which journal articles are distributed online, free of cost or other access barriers. Read more here DOAJ

LIBRARY RESEARCH GUIDES

https://guides.lib.uw.edu/research/scandinavian/home

https://doi.org/10.24926/9781946135971.008

HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS

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“Most Nordic countries have undertaken major newspaper digitization projects, resulting in substantial digital archives of newspapers. Although most newspapers in the public domain are available worldwide, access to issues under copyright is generally restricted to those on-site at local libraries or from IP addresses in that country.” -Handbook

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*Emphasis mine—plenty of content is not under copyright.

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HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS

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• Aviser (Nasjonalbiblioteket)
• Norwegian newspapers. Partial open access.
• Aviser i Mediestream
• Danish newspapers from 1666 onwards. Partial open access.
• Infomedia:
• access to select issues of Faroese newspapers. Open access.
• National Library of Finland’s Digital Collections
• includes not only Finnish-language newspapers but ones in Swedish and some in Russian. Partial open access.
• Svenska dagstidningar
• archive of more than 1,500 Swedish daily newspapers from 1645 to the present. Partial open access.
• Tímarit.is:
• Danish, Faroese, Greenlandic, and Icelandic newspapers and periodicals. Open access.

More news and other sources on the ESS’ Scandinavian Studies guide!

• Sv
• Svenska dagstidningar
• archive of more than 1,500 Swedish daily newspapers from 1645 to the present. Partial open access.

NATIONAL COLLECTIONS OF THE NORDIC COUNTRIES��TODD MICHELSON-

AMBELANG, �MA, MLIS, PHD�UW-MADISON

todd.ambelang@wisc.edu

NATIONAL AND ROYAL LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES

Denmark

Royal Library www.kb.dk

Archives www.rigsarkivet.dk

Iceland

National Library landsbokasafn.is

National Archives island.is/s/thjodskjalasafn

Sweden

Royal Library www.kb.se

Archives riksarkivet.se

NATIONAL AND ROYAL LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES

Finland

National Library www.kansalliskirjasto.fi

Archives kansallisarkisto.fi

Faroe Islands

National Library landsbokasavnid.fo

Archives www.skjalasavn.fo

Greenland

National Library and Archives www.katak.gl/en/groenlandica ; en.nka.gl; (under construction) – write to people at Groenlandica

NATIONAL AND ROYAL LIBRARIES AND ARCHIVES

Norway

National Library www.nb.no

Bokhylle www.nb.no/bokhylla

Archives www.arkivverket.no

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The European Library www.theeuropeanlibrary.org

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Europeana www.europeana.eu

BOKHYLLE

RESEARCH POSSIBILITIES USING BOKHYLLE

1. Digital Humanities research utilizing corpus word searches.
2. Comparing different editions of books.
3. Preliminary Research for future trips to Norway.
4. Books, Journals, Newspapers, Maps, Letters and Manuscripts.
5. Genres including: Children’s Literature, Norwegian-American Literature, Linguistics, and many more areas.

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Things to keep in mind:

• There is no guarantee that you will get access to the collections.
• Have a specific research project in mind when you apply for access.
• Apply in Norwegian, unless you can justify why you would like to access the collections.
• You can apply for an extension after being accepted. After that time, you will have to reapply.
• Not all materials are available on Bokhylle, but a vast majority are.

COLLECTIONS OF MANUSCRIPTS AND MEDIEVAL SOURCES

Manuscripts:

National Libraries

Handrit.is

Books:

Viking Society Web Publications www.vsnrweb-publications.org.uk

Vígulndar saga (one example) search.library.wisc.edu/digital/AZ4J5SSGJQVYKL8L

Dictionaries:

Dictionary of Old Norse Prose onp.ku.dk

Germanic Lexicon Project www.germanic-lexicon-project.org

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THE VIKING SOCIETY FOR NORTHERN RESEARCH

HANDRIT.IS

RESEARCH POSSIBILITIES USING HANDRIT.IS

1. Digital Humanities research utilizing corpus word searches. There is no search feature for terms or words.
2. Comparing different manuscripts of sagas and other writings.
3. Preliminary Research for future trips to Reykjavik and Copenhagen.
4. Browsing Titles, Nicknames of Manuscripts, People, Places, etc. (NB People does not include characters in Sagas)

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Things to keep in mind

• The sources include: The Arnemagnæan Collection in Copenhagen, The Icelandic National and University Library in Reykjavik, Árnastofnun, and Collections at John Rylands Research Institute and Library, the Royal Library of Sweden, Skjalasafn Alþingis, Þjóminjasafn Íslands, and Þjóðskjalasafn Íslands.
• The site is available in Islandic, English, and Danish. The advanced search is known as Power Search.
• Not all materials are available on Handrit.is, but a vast majority are.
• The manuscript name will still appear in your search, even if it has not been digitized, so you can reach out to the collection with any collections.

TROY WELLINGTON SMITH�NORDIC AREA REFERENCE LIBRARIAN�LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

TSMITH@LOC.GOV

CHRONICLING AMERICA:�HISTORICAL AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS

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HTTPS://CHRONICLINGAMERICA.LOC.GOV/

����NEWSPAPERS FROM THE DANISH WEST INDIES�

HTTPS://WWW.KB.DK/EN/INSPIRATION/NEWSPAPERS-DANISH-WEST-INDIES

RIGSARKIVET�THE WEST INDIES

HTTPS://ARKIVALIERONLINE.RIGSARKIVET.DK/EN/COLLECTION/THEME/8

NATIONALMUSEET�TRANQUEBAR REGISTERS�

HTTPS://EN.NATMUS.DK/HISTORICAL-KNOWLEDGE/HISTORICAL-KNOWLEDGE-THE-WORLD/ASIA/INDIA/TRANQUEBAR/DANISH-ERA-1620-1845/PUBLICATIONS-ON-THE-DANISH-ERA/TRANQUEBAR-REGISTERS/

UNDERREPRESENTED GROUPS IN THE NORDICS: �ARCHIVES & OTHER RESOURCES��Brian Vetruba, MA, MISt (he/him; lgbtq+)��European Studies Librarian�University of Minnesota – Twin Cities�bvetruba@umn.edu

AFRICAN/BLACK�HERITAGE

Black Archives Sweden - Images | Videos | Podcasts | Oral Histories | Texts

Relatively new, began in 2021.

Afrosvenskar i historien, 2020 (web video)

Afrosvensk Historievecka (held in October each year)

Afrosvenskarnas Riksorganisation

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NORWAY

• Black History Month Norway
• Black History month Norway 2020: Stories from Nasjonalmuseet (web video)

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DENMARK

• Afro Danish Collective
• Black Lives Matter Denmark
• My Beautiful People Run

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FINLAND

• Afrosuomen historiaa etsimässä: Keitä olemme ja onko meillä historiaa? (In Search of Afro-Finnish History) (podcast, 2017)
• Being Black – Afro Finns’ Experiences (2023 exhibit)
• African Anti Racism Society Finland

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ICELAND

• Black Lives Matter Iceland
• Aldis Amah on Growing Up Biracial in Iceland (podcast)
• Living in Iceland as a Black Person - Our Personal Experiences (web video)
• Black People of Iceland/Svart Fólk Íslands

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Europeana’s Histories of Black People in Europe

Freedom Is Mine (short videos about Black history in various countries – includes all Nordics)

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A FEW RECENT BOOKS

Afro-Sweden Becoming Black in a Color-blind Country (2022)

Afrikanere I Norge gjennom 400 år (2011)

Nordic utopia? : African Americans in the 20th century (2024)

Afro-Nordic landscapes : equality and race in Northern Europe (2014)

LGBTQ+

SKEIVT ARKIV

Norwegian National Archive for Queer and LGBTQ+ History

• Skeivopedia (Online encyclopedia with links to other sources)
• Oral history interviews
• Books & periodicals
• Timeline of Norwegian Queer history
• Can browse using interactive map

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QUEERRÖRELSENS ARKIV OCH BIBLIOTEK (QRAB)�

• Located at the Landsarkivet (Regional State Archive) in Gothenburg, Sweden

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• Collections include books, pictures, banners & more

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• Personal histories

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• Online catalogue

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• Events noted on

 Archives and Library of the Queer Movement 

Swedish Archive for Queer Moving Images (SAQMI)

Nordic Information on Gender (NIKK)

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DENMARK

• LGBTQ+ materials at Royal Danish Library
• KØN Gender Museum Denmark
• LGBT+ Danmark

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FINLAND

• Friends of Queer History (Sateenkaarihistorian ystävät ry; Queerhistoriens vänner rf)
• Finnish Labour Museum Werstas
• Labour Archives

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ICELAND

• Queer Situations
• Samtökin ’78 (Nat’l Queer Organization of Iceland)
• Reykjavik Pride

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A FEW RECENT BOOKS

Skeive linjer i norsk historie: frå norrøn tid til i dag (2019)

Bøssernes Danmarkshistorie 1900-2020 (2021)

Homo i folkhemmet: homo- och bisexuella i Sverige 1950-2000 (2000)

Pienin yhteinen jaettava (1998) English translation: �Lowest Common Denominator (2024)

SÁMI

NUOHTTI

Portal to material from 32 European libraries, archives, and museums. But not from Russia.

Includes texts, photographs, maps, audio, video & more available in analog and digital formats.

Open to everyone but mainly for Sámi to learn about their own culture.

More information on Nuohtti

Sámi arkiiva/Samisk arkiv (Sámi Archives) of National Archives of Norway

Sámi Archives (National Archives of Finland)

Sámi kulturarkiiva (Sámi Culture Archive of University of Oulu)

• Includes sound archive with online resources. Need to apply for access.

Sámi Collections

• University of Minnesota-Duluth (books, videos)
• Norsk Folkemuseum (photos, books, audio tapes)

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Bibliography

• Sami Bibliography (joint project of libraries in Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Russia)

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A FEW RECENT BOOKS

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The Sámi World (2022)

The Significance of Sámi Rights (2023)

Straff (2023). English title: Punished (2025)

OPEN ACCESS IN NORWAY & POLAR RESOURCES��L. Christine Ericson�Professor, Electronic Resources Librarian & Library Liaison for Languages and Aviation; University of Alaska Anchorage�lcericson@alaska.edu

Spitsbergen. Image by Martin Fuchs from Pixabay

NORWEGIAN OPEN RESEARCH ARCHIVE (NORA)

• Central aggregator for open access scholarly communication in Norway
• Publications from ~70 Norwegian institutional repositories, including university archives
• Indexed in databases and search engines, increasing visibility
• https://nora.openaccess.no/

OPEN POLAR

• OA portal for research data and publications on the Arctic and Antarctic
• Makes open-access polar records more visible and findable
• Covers many subjects and languages
• UiT The Arctic University of Norway & Norwegian Polar Institute
• https://openpolar.no/

SEARCH BY MAP

• Draw a box on map around area of interest
• Related publications, databases, and other records appear on the map in red circles and below the map view
• Uses geolocation database of 270,000 existing locations from the polar regions

VISUAL TOOL

• Treemap, a type of visualization commonly used for data with hierarchical categories
• Shows the relationship between different records in search results

POLAR LIBRARIES COLLOQUY

• Polar Libraries Bulletin
• Colloquy Proceedings
• Decolonization of Arctic Library and Archives Metadata (DALAM)
• William Mills Prize for Non-Fiction Polar Books
• Hubert Wenger Award
• https://polarlibraries.org/

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LIS BOOKS

• Library and Information Sciences in Arctic and Northern Studies (Springer, 2024)
• Library and Information Studies for Arctic Social Sciences and Humanities (Routledge, 2021)

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