Research
Resources on Iceland
University of Iowa Library
Statistical records are becoming availiable within the
resources of the Unviersities Libraries. Icelanders have
been exceptionally good in keeping statistical records of
their history. (They were helped along early in the
century, 1914-1930, by the French who, of course, are
both very good at records and building formidable
administrative bureaucracies. Yes, the French presence in
Iceland began at least in part when some shipwrecked
French sailors, who were fishing for cod to preserve with
salt, were rescued from the sear and befriended by
Icelandic farmers.) Iceland now sustains a very good
statistical bureau (Hagstofa Island) which provides a
library and services to researchers and also sells a
large number of useful statistical volumes that have
table titles in English as well as in Icelandic. One of
the most useful is their standard statistical summary.
These are now appearing yearly under the series title
Landshagir (Statistical Yearbook of Iceland), and these
are still available from Hagstofa Island. Before 1991,
these came out intermittently, in 1930, 1967, 1974 and
1984 under the title, Tolfraedihandbok (Statistical
Abstract of Iceland). These are not in print, but I have
copies and would be glad to make the materials available.
There is a marvelous new volume, Hagskinna: Sogulegar
hagtolur um Island (Icelandic Historical Statistics),
which came out in 1997 both in hard copy and in CD ROM
versions. Again, these are available from Hagstofa
Island. Current contact (no Internet access):
Statistics Iceland
Phone: +354-560 9880
Fax: +354-562 3312
email: information@statice.is
With respect to Nordic Statistics generally, the
Nordic Council has published since the mid 1960’s
the Yearbook of Nordic Statistics (in English and usually
one of the Nordic languages). This is an excellent
comparative statistical source. The University of Iowa
main library has the volumes in this series, either in
hardcopy or fiche. The series in its original character
ended in 1996, and beginning in the 1997 version, the
amount of original data was reduced drastically, with the
format being altered so as to reach a very broad market
(lots of graphs and tables, but not the original
numbers). What the Nordic Council did do as a replacement
of the original series was to produce a CD ROM version of
the comparative data. The most complete and up-to-date CD
ROM is entitled Statistics across Borders and it
is available in the Government Publications Library at
the Main Library.
Stephen Wieting, Spring '99
