The Library’s special collections include Ejnar Fors Bergström’s Faroe Islands collection, the GDR Culture Centre Library, and the Fröbel Institute Library. Also among the special collections are Swedish Academy member Elias Wessén’s book collection in linguistics, and author Sven Stolpe’s collection of French and German fiction.

A series of special collections has been bestowed, deposited or acquired by Linköping University Library. Some of them are placed separately, but the majority are integrated into the general book collection. 

Below, you can find out what types of material the individual special collections contain. The descriptions also include information about the location and search options for each special collection. With a few exceptions, they are searchable in the search service UniSearch and in the national library catalogue Libris.

UniSearch

Libris

Our Special Collections

AIAA Papers and Conference Proceedings

The collection is a donation from the company Saab, and includes papers and conference proceedings from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) presented between 1982 and 2002. Loose-leaf binders with tables of contents are available. The AIAA collection is stored in the library closed stacks Bokladan.

More about Bokladan

GDR Culture Centre (DDR-Kulturzentrum) Library

The cultural institute of the German Democratic Republic (DDR-Kulturzentrum in German) in Stockholm was established in 1967. In 1990, at the time of the German reunification, the institute was closed and its library was acquired by Linköping University Library. The collection includes German language classics, fiction, books about social and political life in the GDR, historical works and more.

The GDR collection is placed in closed stacks in Studenthuset, Campus Valla. Books in the collection are available for loan and can be searched and ordered via a digitized card catalogue:

Search the GDR-collection

European Documentation Centre (EDC)

Linköping University Library has the status of a European Documentation Centre, which means that we offer information on and access to official publications and legislation of the European Union.

More about EDC

EMIR collection

Linköping University Library houses the EMIR collection of materials on reading instruction donated to the Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning (IBL). Books in the EMIR collection are placed in the general library collection and are available for loans.

The collection is searchable through the local library catalogue and Libris (national catalogue).

Fröbel Institute Library

In 1904, sisters Maria and Ellen Moberg started Sweden’s first kindergarten for working-class children in the city of Norrköping. This became the origin of preschool teacher education. The German pedagogue Friedrich Fröbel (1782–1852) was their main source of inspiration, and the program established by the Moberg sisters was from 1909 supported by what became known as the Fröbel Institute. In 1949, the municipality took over as authority for preschool teacher education.

The collection, approximately 1000 books, contains literature on preschool teaching, child rearing, psychology, religion and children’s books, and can be found at Campus Norrköping Library. The books are searchable in UniSearch and in Libris. 

Faroe Islands collection

Literature in Faroese and about the Faroe Islands. The collection was donated by journalist and editor Ejnar Fors Bergström (1893–1976).

Material Realisation Lab library

Database of physical materials in a unique Material Realisation Laboratory where students, researchers, practitioners and professionals can study surfaces and properties of hundreds of different materials. The collection of materials can be found in A building on Campus Valla and is searchable at:

Material Realisation Laboratory

The library of the Nordens folkliga akademi (NFA)

The library of the NFA, an institute for adult education, was donated to Linköping University Library in 2004 after the Nordic Council of Ministers decided to close the institute. The collection consists of books and journals concerning adult education and can be searched through the local catalogue and Libris.

Peter Hellqvist’s collection

Literature on furniture-making and design, wood, and Japanese furniture. The collection belonged to Peter Hellqvist, a student at the former Carl Malmsten School, now Malmstens Linköping University. The collection's 257 books can be found at Byggmästare John Mattson Library at Campus Lidingö, Stockholm.

More about Byggmästare John Mattson Library

Rolf Riklund’s collection

A collection of books on modern physics donated by physicist and LiU professor Rolf Riklund (1945–2008).

School books and teaching material

The collection consists of school books in different subjects (nursery school to upper secondary school level). The collection is searchable through the library catalogue via UniSearch and in Libris.

Organized by school subject and educational stage, the main part of the collection can be found in Valla Library's stacks (first floor in Studenthuset). Campus Norrköping Library holds a smaller part of the collection, primarily books intended for nursery school through middle school.

Stensland collection

Per G. Stensland (1913–1998) was educated in economics at Stockholm University. In the late 1930s, he worked as a teacher at folk high schools in Sweden. In 1941, he moved to the United States. He received a PhD from Columbia University in 1950 and later became Professor of Education at University of Saskatchewan, Canada. He was active in Canadian Association for Adult Education and Council for Adult Education (ICAE). Stensland had a long and distinguished academic career at various American and Canadian universities.

Stensland’s collection of books on adult education published in North America was donated to Linköping University Library in 1980. The collection, kept in closed stacks at Valla Library, can be searched in the library catalogue and in the national catalogue Libris.

Stolpe collection

French and German fiction, and books on the history of literature, mostly from the first half of the twentieth century. The collection belonged to author and scholar Sven Stolpe (1905–1996) and was acquired by the Department of Culture and Communication at LiU and donated to the Library in 2003.

The books carry a special stamp, "Stolpe-samlingen," and are placed in the general library collection, primarily among French and German fiction in Valla Library. The Stolpe collection is searchable via the library catalogue and Libris.

Wessén collection

Literature in linguistics. The collection belonged to Elias Wessén (1889–1981), a Professor of Linguistics and member of the Swedish Academy. The Wessén collection is placed in closed stacks in Studenthuset, Campus Valla. Items from the collection can be reserved through the library catalogue. Searchable also in Libris.

Åke Livstedt’s collection

The collection was donated by Åke Livstedt (1943–2018), an art and cultural historian. It includes materials on twentieth century design, and especially the Home exhibition at Liljevalchs in 1917, the Stockholm exhibition in 1930 and the H55 exhibition in Helsingborg. The collection comprises print material – searchable in Libris – and items such as porcelain and glass artifacts.

Åke Livstedt’s collection is located at Byggmästare John Mattson Library at Malmstens Linköping University, on Lidingö in Stockholm.

More about Byggmästare John Mattson Library

Guide to Special Collections

Some special collections are placed separately, others are integrated in the general library collection. The possibility to borrow items varies depending on the special collection and the nature of the material. 

If you have any questions regarding our special collections, you are welcome to email us at:
biblioteket@liu.se

Page responsible: Linköping University Library, biblioteket@liu.se