Uppsala University Library

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Carolina Rediviva, the main building of the library, built 1816-1841 according to the design of Carl Fredrik Sundvall

Uppsala University Library in Sweden consists of 19 different branch libraries, with the largest being that housed in the old main library building, Carolina Rediviva. The library holds around 5.2 million books and periodicals, 61,959 manuscripts, 7,133 musical prints and 345,734 graphic prints and maps. Users of the library have access to 12,000 electronic journals.

Contents

1 History
2 Some significant manuscripts and collections
3 Current organization

3.1 Library Group A (Humanities, Theology)
3.2 Library Group B (Law, Social Sciences, Education and Teaching)
3.3 Library Group Linné (Medicine, Pharmacy, Technology, Natural Sciences)
3.4 Cultural heritage units

4 External links
5 See also

History

The exact site of the library during its earliest years is not known, but the university from its foundation in 1477, was located on what became known as "Student Island" in the River Fyris, where the academy mill - now the provincial museum - was later built. In 1566, King Eric XIV donated the old chapter house, south of the Uppsala Cathedral, to be used for lectures. After the construction of the Gustavianum in the 1620s, this building was referred to as the Collegium vetus or Gamla akademien ("the old academy"), until it was renamed in 1704 through a decision of the consistory (university board) and called the Academia Carolina, in honour of kings Charles IX, Charles XI and Charles XII. The library was located in the Academia Carolina from the late 16th century until 1691, when it was moved to one floor of the Gustavianum. The Academia Carolina was damaged in the city fire of 1702, was later restored but continued to decay and finally demolished in the 1770s. An 18th century plan to return the library to the building was never realized and the new library building intended for the spot after demolition was never built. When a new library building was eventually constructed, it received the name Carolina Rediviva, "the revived Carolina", in honour of the old building, but was located to an entirely different place.

The library remained in Gustavianum, which luckily escaped the flames in 1702, until Carolina Rediviva was completed in 1841. Carolina Rediviva has since retained the status of central library of the university until a reorganization in the 1990s made away with the concept of a centralized library organization and divided the library into a number of branch libraries of equal status, with Carolina being home of one of the branch libraries dedicated to humanities and social sciences. Nevertheless, the central functions of the library system largely remain in the building, as do the "cultural heritage units" (the Department for manuscripts and music and the Department for maps and prints).

In parallel with the development of the central library, the "seminars" (later called "departments") of the university had their own libraries. Currently, the collections of the library system is divided over the branch libraries, while at the same time a process of centralizing minor libraries has taken place. In 2004 most of the individual libraries for departments within the Faculties of Arts, Languages and Theology have been collected in the new Karin Boye Library in the new English Park Centre for the Humanities, next to the old cemetery.

Some significant manuscripts and collections

The Codex Argenteus

The Codex Argenteus, most of what remains of Bishop Ulfilas's translation of the New Testament into Gothic.
The Carta Marina, the map of the Nordic countries made by Olaus Magnus and printed in venice 1539.
Copernicana, the main part of the library of astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus.
Bibliotheca Walleriana and the Waller manucript collection, collected by Dr Erik Waller, and partly donated, partly purchased by the library. One of the largest libraries of books concerned with the history of science and medicine and a manuscript collection mostly of letters from notable scientists.
The Bodoni collection is the largest collection of prints of Giambattista Bodoni (1740-1813) outside his native Parma. Donated by the industrialist Erik Kempe 1959 and later extended with funds donated at the same time.

Current organization

The library is headed by an överbibliotekarie (head librarian), with the rest of the branch libraries being divided into three groups, each under its own director. Each group also includes some special projects.

Library Group A (Humanities, Theology)

The Carolina Library. One of the units in the Carolina Rediviva.
The Karin Boye Library. (Named after the writer Karin Boye.)

Library Group B (Law, Social Sciences, Education and Teaching)

Law Library with EDC, the Europena Documentation Centre
Dag Hammarskjöld Library. (Named after the UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld.)
Library for Economic Sciences
Psychology Library
Press archives
Library for Housing and Urban Research
Education and Teaching Library
Library for Educational Research and Studies
Nordic Africa Institute Library

Library Group Linné (Medicine, Pharmacy, Technology, Natural Sciences)

Medical Library
Library of Health and Caring Sciences
Bio-Medical Library
Ångström Library. (In the Ångström Laboratory and named after Anders Jonas Ångström and his son Knut Ångström.)
Earth Sciences Library
Beurling Library for Mathematics and Computer Sciences. (Named after mathematician Arne Beurling.)
Biology Library

Cultural heritage units

Manuscripts and Music
Maps and Prints
Early Prints