The discovery was made by library employees last fall. Someone had urinated on several hundred metres of microfilm, which preserves Swedish newspapers from the 19th century onwards.
The extent of the damage is not yet known. Cecilia Natvig, department manager at Carolina Rediviva, tells SVT that around 5,800 rolls may be affected.
"I've never experienced anything like this. A lot of books disappear and we have procedures for that. But this is vandalism that we didn't have procedures for," she says.
Cleanup work is now underway, a surveillance camera has been installed in the room where the microfilms are located, the collection is closed to visitors and the incident has been reported to the police.
