Árbók Landsbókasafns Íslands - Nýr flokkur - 01.01.1992, Page 128

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ENGLISH SUMMARY
Finnbogi Guðmundsson: Frá Stephani Guttormssyni. Landsbókasafn íslands.
Árbók. Nýr flokkur 16 (1990). Rv. 1992, pp. 84-109.
Among the papers of Stephan G. Stephansson (1853-1927), the poet, now in
the National Library of Iceland are eight letters written to him by Mr Stephan
Guttormsson (1877-1959), a student, who later became a civil engineer and was
for a long time a surveyor in Winnipeg. Stephan Guttormsson emigrated to
Canada with his family in 1893, and studied at the Central Collegiate in
Winnipeg, Wesley College, and the University of Manitoba. He has been
described as a talented student, and as a young man he wrote articles that were
published in the lcelandic newspapers in Canada and showed interest in the
cultural debate of the Icelandic community there. It was obviously Stephan
Guttormsson who initiated the correspondence with Stephan G. Stephansson,
which lasted front 1900 to 1904. All eight letters from Stephan Guttormsson are
printed here in full or in part, together with one letter written by Stephan G.
Stephansson, which has been preseved in Stephan Guttormsson’s family. The
subject matter of those letters reflects the young man’s interest in Icelandic
culture, literature, Stephan G. Stephansson’s poetry in particular, and religion.
He also describes his studies at Wesley College. It is not quite clear why their
correspondence came to an end at the time it did, but the letter of 5 January 1904
seems to have been the last one.
Landsbókasafnið 1990 [a reportj. Landsbókasafn íslands. Árbók. Nýr flokkur 16
(1990). Rv. 1992, pp. 110-125.
At the end of the year, the number of printed books in the National Library
was, according to the accessions catalogue, 414,966 volumes, the annual increase
being 8889 volumes. Accessions to the National Department were 6676 volumes,
and 2213 volumes to the Department of Foreign Literature. The library acquired
a great number of books through donations and exchanges (cf. a list on pp.
111-113); a list of those who gave manuscripts is on pp. 114-117. A brief account
of the activities of individual departments (Management, Department of Manu-
scripts, National Department, Department of Foreign Literature, Bindery,
Photographic Unit) and some of their tasks, is to be found on pp. 117-119.
An exhibition was held in the library to commemorate the centenary of the
birth of the Danish publisher Ejnar Munksgaard, born on 28 February 1890. The
National Library and the University Library bought together the Libertas
Library System from SLS (Information Systems) Ltd in Bristol, and it was being
installed during the year. Another joint project, the conversion of about 200,000
card catalogue entries into machine-readable form undertaken by the British
company Saztek, was completed during the year. At the invitadon of the Library
of Congress, the Director of the National Library recommended a librarian for
participation in the Library of Congress Intern Program for a period of nine
months (winter 1990-1991).