Olof Halldin

Olof Halldin. Head of the Library and archive. Employed since 2012 at Stockholm University of the Arts.

Background

Educated at Stockholm University and the University of Borås, with a background in library and information science, musicology, philosophy and literary studies. Has Since 1989 worked as a senior librarian at the Royal Library – The National Library of Sweden (KB). The main area of work has been KB's collection of ephemera (ephemera = short-lived), consisting of 13,900 shelf metres, and with special national responsibility for the collection of approximately 600,000 posters. My knowledge is based not only on my education but above all on the practical experience gained from 24 years of working at Sweden's national library. This is due to the nature of the collections, which are constantly evolving in terms of collecting, description, preservation and provision. To clarify this and what it means for library work and the Library at SKH, a clarification is needed here:

Traditionally, libraries are perceived as containing books and periodicals. In the case of the National Library of Sweden, historically this has included all types of printed matter, including publications such as advertisements, programmes, propaganda, catalogues and posters. Since the early 16th century, the National Library of Sweden's collection of various types of material has been built up partly from handwritten and early printed material, and partly through the 1661 law of “legal deposit," which brought the entire Swedish printed cultural heritage to the National Library of Sweden. In addition, there are acquisitions of relevant foreign literature, in mainly the humanities, and large parts of the 20th century's publicly broadcast audiovisual material. Together with the collections of the National Archives, the collection can be said to constitute Sweden's "memory" – and is a cornerstone of Swedish democracy and freedom of expression. The law was originally introduced to give those in power control over the printed word.

My main area of expertise is primarily the National Library's large ephemeral collection. It is organised by subject and, for practical reasons, has been exempted from the usual cataloguing and searchability, but it has subsequently become a treasure trove that is now slowly being made visible in various ways. The challenge has been to make available material that was not originally created for long-term preservation. The ephemeral nature of short-lived news and often poor paper quality has made digitisation an important method for both preservation and accessibility. My contribution can be said to have been to collect and organise the material, but also to find methods for searchability through registration and digitisation, which can be accessed via the national library database LIBRIS/Affischer. 

Posters are also highly visual in nature and often of artistic quality, either as illustrations or independent images, which is why it has been important to find ways to describe what the image depicts, but also its origin and the context in which it was created. As image description for searchability has been an overlooked bibliographic technique, the work of developing such a technique has been groundbreaking and educational for me as a librarian Traces of my own basic research on ephemera, particularly posters and images, can be seen here.

SKH

From artistic posters and the Royal Library to Stockholm University of the Arts and performing arts and film/media, the path is partly logical because it is about conveying a story or a statement through artistic expression, and in this way transmitting a message, whether it is advertising, propaganda or a staged production.

In 2014, the libraries of Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts, the University of Dance and Circus, and the University of Opera were merged, although each remained at its own address. Synergy effects arose, and since then my aim has been to bring the collections together as one library focusing on SKH's core subjects.

Libraries on an artistic basis

In 2012, I had the opportunity to build a new library for a university whose history dates back to the 18th century and includes the Royal Dramatic Theatre's student school, the Royal Theatres, including the Opera, and much later also the Dramatic Institute, the Choreographic Institute and new circus. Such an opportunity is rare, but the fact that, during the construction phase, I was able to analyse, make decisions and design what a new library would consist of, which opened new perspectives.  - what should be on the shelves of a library whose holdings primarily consist of inspiration to support artistic creation, but of course also research? This also gave me the opportunity to make a claim that had not previously been clarified in library science. Considering art as an umbrella term for all artistic activity, a library usually acquires literature about art. However, at SKH, research and education are primarily conducted in and through art. This can make it difficult for a library to predict what is needed to support this type of activity. Anything can be used for inspiration and knowledge building, and this does not necessarily have to be within the subject on which the artistic practice or research is based. Even the book as an artefact can often be a resource, with literature becoming part of the scenographic artistic design. 

Nevertheless, what is currently on the shelves of SKH's library is the result of the university's activities and should clearly constitute proof of what the shelves should be filled with. The collection, together with the archive, thus becomes SKH's "memory", where theoretical writings coexist with artistic results in the form of non-fiction books, novels and plays. The Swedish library classification system (SAB) also suggests that this mix of the scientific and the artistic can be combined in one and the same system, even if science dominates. For what is the subject of fiction other than artistic writing and the results of artistic practice, i.e. art manifested? The subject that deals with fiction is called Literary Studies in the same system.

The SKH library therefore consists not only of books in the fields of performing arts and mediated art but is also the obvious place to go for various types of information. Here you will find databases, films, sheet music and play scripts, as well as support for reference management and source criticism skills. 

Documentation

SKH provides education in the fields of performing arts, film and media, but also conducts research in the same practices, where the results need to be documented, archived and made visible. Seen as a circle, the Library contributes knowledge that eventually results in various types of publications, which are then offered through the same Library. The Library and the archive play an important role here in terms of searchability, accessibility and archiving, where my role also includes the development of documentation relating to completed research results and research data. 

Artistic research is a small but very important part of the Swedish research structure, and SKH's contribution from education to research can be accessed via the journal VIS – Nordic Journal for Artistic Research, the publication series X Position, and the publication platforms DiVA and Research Catalogue. The results reported in DiVA are also transferred to the national library catalogue LIBRIS and on to the international database WorldCat. In this way, the library ensures that SKH's publications are visible throughout the world.