The Library of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities: a cataloging and accessibility project

The main purpose of project is to make the extensive collection of older foreign journals and monograph series belonging to the Library of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities available through cataloguing in the national Swedish national union catalogue Libris. The collection spans 1,500 running meters and is the primary result of an extensive exchange program with learned societies and organizations across the world.

The systematic collecting in combination with a restrictive weeding policy makes the present-day library among the foremost in its fields: archaeology, the history of medieval art and buildings, heritage conservation, museology, and numismatics.

Gradually, Libris has become the go-to-place for researchers, and documents not listed here are often regarded as non-existing. Meanwhile, significant collections are still missing from Libris. On-going discussion focusing on the preservation and use of physical collections highlights the role of increased co-operation and Libris metadata. Here, the present project may contribute with important experiences, and also help to make Libris more complete.

The library’s extensive collection of foreign journals and monograph series is currently only fully registered in the library’s card catalogue. The project will thereby result in making an import resource for research findable globally, to the benefit of independent scholars as well as the humanities and cultural heritage sector as a whole.