Let´s try to start the student book club again! Pictured above are three of the books that the IHGR library has a book club set off. First, we have Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman, a gripping book about a young woman’s break with the Hasidic community in New York. Second is The Wind in the Willows, a wonderful classic for both adults and children. And third we have Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer. In this true story we follow a young man who rejects society at a great personal cost.
If you are interested in joining, contact me and tell me which book you would like to read. The book that gets the most votes will be read by the group.
Altar for Dia de los Muertos and Halloween in the entrance of IHGR & ISGR.
Halloween (All Hallows Eve/Evening) has Celtic roots and goes back to old Celtic pagan harvest festivals. Later on, when Christianity got a foothold in Europe, the celebrations changed. The Halloween we celebrate today has changed even more since Celtic times and now a lot of our inspiration comes from American popular culture, especially from horror movies. In Mexico, and other parts of the Hispanic world/diaspora, people celebrate The Day of the Dead/Dia de los Muertos around this time of the year. Maybe you could visit a cemetery to get in the right Halloween mood? In Gothenburg there are two big ones with some monuments and other spooky things, Västra kyrkogården and Östra kyrkogården. If you by any chance visit London during Halloween you should go to Highgate cemetery for a nice spooky walk! Or why not visit the website Museum of talking boards?
During this time of year the Vanir gods was celebrated in Scandinavia during pagan times. The Vanir are, along with the Aesir, one of the main groups of gods in Norse mythology. The Vanir are connected to fertility, the underworld and magic. The most well-known of the Vanir gods are Frey, Freya and their father Njord.
Have you heard that our school building, Götaberg, is supposed to be haunted? People have claimed to have seen ”a grey lady” on floor 5. Others say that the piano on floor 1 plays by itself. Others still have seen chairs being moved by invisible hands in the library. So if you´re (un)lucky, you might experience a haunting at school. If you want to know more about this, come to the IHGR library and borrow the pamphlet pictured below.
We hope you read some scary books, maybe watch some horror-movies and have a great Halloween this year! Here you can read up on how to have a real scary Halloween. or watch the clip below and get some tips on how to do some nice skull make-up.
Solo adventure role playing games now available in the IHGR library. Three books/games, in Swedish, in the series Ensamma vargen (Lone Wolf) and the first book/game in the series Freeway Warrior are ready for pick-up. The books are written by well-known Joe Dever. More books of this kind will be bought for the library in the future.
The IHGR library has temporarily been turned into a studio for chat, livestream and 1 to 1 video meetings.
Tomorrow, Tuesday the 6th, is the first day of the High School Fair. The IHGR library will be temporarily closed as it´s going to be used as studie for chat, livestream and other activities related to the fair. Today the second of our new IHGR videos was completed. have a look at them below.
On Tuesday the 6th, Wednesday the 7th and Thursday the 8th of October staff from IHGR will take part in Gymnasiemässan (the annual High school fair).
We will use the IHGR library, and other locations, for livestream, chat and other activities. This means that during the above mentioned dates, students will have limited access to the IHGR library. Sorry for any inconvenience caused.
Street by Åke Göransson. Painted between 1930 and 1932. Photo taken by me at the Gothenburg Art Museum in September of 2020.
Our school is located just by Landala and Landala torg. In the 30´s Landala was home to a now celebrated artist, Åke Göransson (1902 – 1942). Some of his paintings are hung at the Gothenburg Museum of Art. At the museum you can read the following about Åke Göransson;
”Åke Göransson took correspondence courses in drawing and painting before starting his studies in 1924 at the Departement of Fine Arts, Valand, Göteborg with Tor Bjurström as instructor. He was a hairdresser by training, and pursued his studies alongside his daily work. In the early 1930´s, following a period of illness, he chose to isolate himself with his mother in a small one-room flat on Höjdgatan in the Göteborg district of Landala. There he painted still lifes and interiors, and street scenes he could see from his window. ”
Evening in early spring, Stockholm. Painting by Einar Jolin, 1930´s. Photo taken by me at The Gothenburg Art Museum. September of 2020.
This blogpost is aimed at the IHGR staff members that will attend my short workshop on library resources on Wednesday the 30th of September at IHGR. Below you will find a short list of some of the resources the IHGR library and I offer or otherwise can help you find and access. Contact me if you have any questions about the points below.
Databases. Through Hjärntorget you can access several subscription databases and a few free ones as well. Read more about that here. A few months back the database Landguiden was cancelled from Hjärntorget. I recommend The CIA World Factbook instead. The Factbook is free and can be used without creating an account.
Subscriptions. At present the IHGR library subscribes to the following magazines; BBC History Magazine, Time, The Economist, Historiskan, Cosmopolitan, Fortean Times, American Scientist, National Geographic, The New Yorker, Sverigekontakt and Science in School. I keep older copies of these magazines going back 1 – 2 years. Magazines older than that are routinely donated to staff and students.
Buying books. I order/buy books about once a month for the library. I almost always buy the books that students and staff wish me to buy. So, E-mail, PIM or talk to me if you want me to buy a certain book. Apart from buying requested books I follow a plan for what areas to update each term.
Ordering class sets of books. Since we are a public school we can use the services of the public Skolbibliotekscentralen (School Library Central/Depository), SBC. We can borrow class sets of books from them. Let me know if you want me to check the availability of a certain title. Please note that a lot of the titles at SBC are in Swedish.
Long distance loans/Fjärrlån. If a student or staff member needs a book for a project and that book is only available in, let´s say Umeå, I usually arrange for that book to be sent to us. One can arrange this for oneself though. Any member of the public, over the age of 16, can get a library card at the University library in Gothenburg. Through the university library, UB, you can access a very wide range of books, magazines, archival material, databases etc. And through UB card holders can order books from other university libraries + city libraries.
We also have over 20 public libraries in Gothenburg. Through the public libraries you can also access a wide range of material.
