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One of the most loyal supporters of the National Library was the American tycoon and librarian Willard Fiske (1831–1904). During his lifetime, he gave the library over 1,500 books, and then bequeathed a large part of his books to the library in his will, over 2,500 volumes, many of which are valuable and rare. The…

The International Week of Open Access 2023 will be held on October 23rd-29th 2023. This year’s program is particularly diverse, thanks to the Icelandic Library Fund, which generously supported the week. It is the University Libraries’ Open Access/Open Science Work Group which has organised the week in Iceland. The program and registration forms can be…

The National and University Library of Iceland and The National Archives recently participated in a project on digital humanities via The Centre for Digitial Humanities and Arts. The project aimed to train the Transkribus application to read old Icelandic handwriting. Historian Emil Gunnlaugsson worked on that project part-time for a year which resulted in two…

The staff of the Audio Library visited the National and University Library on September 13. They got an introduction to the library’s diverse activities, mainly music and video collections and original recordings of Icelandic music. Örn Hrafnkelsson, Bryndís Vilbergsdóttir and Ingibjörg Steinunn Sverrisdóttir National Librarian welcomed them.

On Wednesday, September 13, two projects were presented in the library’s lecture hall by the Centre for Digital Humanities and Arts. Trausti Dagsson from the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies and Luke O’Brien presented Speech Analysis of the website Ismus.is and the construction of a text library for older speech that was done in…

In memory of Guðbergur Bergsson (1932-2023), several of his books and one manuscript are now on display in the library. Guðbergur’s first book was the novel Músin sem læðist, which was published in 1961. Tómas Jónsson bestseller, which was published five years later, attracted considerable attention and is often considered the first modernist novel in…

The highlight of the month of August at the National and University library is the first album that actor Róbert Arnfinnsson put together about his remarkable life’s work, and it is on display on the first floor. On the occasion of Róbert’s 100th birthday on August 16, the Theatre Museum received a very nice visit…

Jesmond Cutajar, Ambassador of Malta to Iceland, visited the National and University Library of Iceland June 22. He was gathering information about libraries in Iceland, book publishing/book sales, translation issues and the functions of the library. He requested information and cooperation. He presented the museum with two books by Maroma Camilleri, about the costumes and fashion of…

Ministry of Culture and Business Affairs allocated from the Library Fund today, June 14. The National and University Library of Iceland is connected to two projects that received funding, The initiative for the registration of names and subject headings in Gegnir (the library system), which received ISK 7 million and Collaboration for the International Open…

Former National Librarian, Sigrún Klara Hannesdóttir (pictured left), recently donated her private archive of correspondence to the manuscript collection of the National and University Library of Iceland. Ingibjörg Steinunn Sverrisdóttir, current National Librarian (pictured right), signed the agreement of the donation.

The National and University Library of Iceland in cooperation with The Writers’ Union of Iceland awards a prize for a book of poetry published in the year 2022. The May Star Poetry Prize was presented for the seventh time at a ceremony at the National Library on 24 May. The May Star Poetry Prize 2022…

In relation to the exhibition of Gísli J. Ástthórsson’s works, the National and University Library is collaborating with the Icelandic Comics Society on a small retrospective of Icelandic comics past and present in the Library, which was opened on Thursday, May 11 at 16. At the opening, National Librarian Ingibjörg Steinunn Sverrisdóttir said a few…