Abstracts – 5-6/1990

Bibliographic activities in Hungary in the lest 30 years.

LISZTES László

The 1st national Conference on Bibliography was organized in 1961 and since then it has served as a base of comparison. Bibliographic activities in the past 30 years have been characterised by goodwill, moderate professional standard and mostly individual efforts. It is an accomplishment, however, that the unified system of the national bibliography has been developed and has become consolidated, and besides the National Library some well-functioning bibliographic workshops have been set up. Analysing the relationship of bibliography with science it can be stated that there is a close relationship between the scientific and bibliographic activities in a subject. As organizations serving technological-economic development are progressing more rapidly, information and bibliography in their field is more developed too, as opposed to humanities and the less cultivated fields of social sciences. As regards education in bibliography, the lack of textbooks on methods and of authentic teachers renders the education of the new generation more difficult. The author recommends that the joint efforts should be coordinated and a realistic partnership should be built out in order to put and end to the unorganized bibliographic work. The objectives of further development ere: effective institutional relationships and revenue-raising services. (pp.409-420)
The system of the current Hungarian National Bibliography. State of the art and goals.

BERKE Barnabásné

The system of the Hungarian National Bibliography has become consolidated in the 1970′s. The following factors contributed to starting bibliographic series with a unified approach: standardization abroad and in Hungary, the 1977 Paris recommendations, the 3rd National Conference on Librarianship in 1970. As a result, in 1978 the database of the national bibliography of books started operation. From among the central services relying on this database for the time being only the centralised catalogue card supply for public libraries was realized. From 1978 the Hungarian National Bibliography/Bibliography of articles of periodicals is published each month. It has reduced its scope to social sciences and science in 1981. The bibliographies of other subjects were left to the special libraries having a national collection responsibility in the given subject. In 1977 the Hungarian publications abroad and the Hungarica Literature Review were published. In the 1980′s, because of financial restrictions, there was a change-over to Works and investments taking up less money (standardization, further development of the software of the Hungarian National Bibliography/Books database, elaboration of the programme of Hungarica documentation). The lack of resources accounts for the exclusion of certain types of materials, for the uncompleted secondary bibliographies, for the delayed publication of indices and annual cumulative volumes. With the help of the macrocomputer system DOBIS/LIBIS being realized with the support of the Information Infrastructure Development Programme, bibliographic services will be reformed in the early 1990′s. As first, the entries of the Hungarian National Bibliography/Books will be made available on magnetic tapes and floppy disks. (pp. 421-445)

The current national bibliography of periodicals and its database.

NAGY Zsoltné

The annual bibliography of periodicals was first published in 1976 as an individual branch of the system of the Hungarian national bibliography. This bibliography includes, besides publications traditionally considered as periodicals, also yearbooks and reports that have so far been listed among books. From 1985 on the number of periodicals has extremely increased and thus the scope of the national bibliography had to be revised. From 1988 computerised processing became inevitable. As first, two databases were developed: the ISSN database and the database of periodicals. After initial experience the two databases were merged in 1989 under the name Bibliography of Periodicals. It includes data for bibliographic description, filing and record-keeping. The database provides the following services: multi-aspect search, production of records with full or abridged bibliographic description, and publishing. (pp. 446-452)
The general retrospective national bibliography. Accomplishments, tasks, methods.

FERENCZY Endréné

It was the National Conference on Bibliography in 1961 that assigned the tasks to be solved in the field of general retrospective national bibliography in the part 30 years. As regards the scope of the national bibliography, the two most controversial issues are the following: the concept of Patriotica and comprehensiveness vs. selectivity. There are gaps in the bibliographic listing of Hungarian-language materials; it is, however, more striking that the production of bibliographies on Hungarians and Hungary-related issues is not mentioned in the long-range plans either. The author is for aiming at completeness and supports her opinion by arguments. The arrangement of retrospective cumulative volumes and the bibliographic description applied should be adjusted to the requirements of the periods and types of materials in question. Computerised information services mean a new way for the bibliographies of the present and the future only, they may not detain the completion of the comprehensive system of retrospective national bibliography in the traditional way. (pp. 453-464)

The life and works of Hungarian authors. Past, present, future and recommendations for the preparation of a local file.

VICZIÁN János

Pál Gulyás’ work The life and works of Hungarian authors is an addition to and continuation of József Szinnyei’s 14-volume lexicon published in the period 1891 to 1914 under the same title. Between 1916 and 1956 Gulyás collected data on cca. 80 000 persons, from about 2000 sources. Part of his work (A-D) was published in the period 1939 to 1944, the rest of the material was kept as a manuscript. The Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences decided to publish this immense manuscript material in 1981, edited by the author. The part E-I contains closed biographies, J-Lám includes contributions, data on sources, Lán-Zs – compiled biographies. The volumes are expected to be published by the second half of the 1990`s. They will not be available in booktrade, but from the Petofi Museum of Literature. In the author’s view it is important that current biography files be compiled too. An example is the venture of the Babits Publishing House which, preparing for the new series of the Révai Lexicon, is going to publish a Hungarian who is who of professionals. The author attributes similar importance to compiling the bibliography of articles of the major dailies and weeklies of the country and to local work. He suggests that a local biography file should be edited and makes methodological recommendations. (pp. 465-472)

Biography file of 20th.century Hungarian personalities living abroad (Index Biographicus Hungaricus).

KOVÁCS Ilona

Index Biographicus Hungaricus, the computerised file of Hungarian personalities living abroad covers Hungarians having left Hungary for the Western countries, or born in the neighbouring countries after 1880. The file includes the major data of identification relating to the personalities: their name and its variations, birth, death, studies, when did he/she leave the country and where, in which countries died he/she live, profession, occupation. The database contains information on the sources of data too. The system operates both as an information and a publishing system. (pp.473-479)

The tasks of referral services.

OTTOVAY László

As an extension to the range of library services, referral services lead the reader, who is in need of data, information or materials, to the adequate professional, a scientific institute, the library holding the document in question, or the source of bibliographic information. The tools of referral are the following: lists, records, catalogues, publications, computerised information products. The institutions of referral are the following: on the local level – alt libraries in possession of the major publications used for referral purposes; in the special fields – special libraries with national collection responsibility, coordination centres; on the regional level – the five central regional libraries; on the national level – the National Széchényi Library which is able to undertake national coordination owing to its collections, special records and services, computer-based information services. To raise referral services to their proper rank, to build out their national system, tasks are waiting to be solved in the following fields: organization, methodology, education, development of tools and publishing. (pp. 480-487)

Referral services and information on location.

SONNEVEND Péter

By referral the author means an information and/or documentation service which, in addition to the bibliographic identification of the materials requested, provides information also on their location. This tank is fulfilled by union catalogues and union finding lists. In an analysis of the National Széchényi Library’s central services in the early 1980′s it was found that the performance of union catalogues should be improved by computerisation. According to the plans at first the union catalogue of foreign journals, then that of books was to be computerised. Because of the too complex system programme, the lack of adequate management, the ceasing of central support, plans could not entirely come true. The publication of the retrospective periodicals catalogue is too slow, the union catalogue of current periodicals is grappling with a backlog of some years. Reporting libraries cannot supply data in a machine-readable form. As a counterpoint, the author describes the capabilities of the periodicals database of a developed country, the services of databases based on union catalogues. The author recommends that the National Periodicals Database be renewed as regards systems organization, the registration of the holding libraries of so far unrecorded types of materials be solved, a unified network be aimed at, and financial problems be solved by financial aid to initial operations. (pp. 488-492)

State of the art of special bibliography.

SZABÓ Sándor

The recommendations of the 1st National Conference on Bibliography (1961, Gödöllo) have not been adequately taken into consideration by the profession. Consequently, besides major accomplishments, special bibliography in Hungary has got the same faults as before, namely: there ere some uncovered subjects, e.g. mathematics, chemistry; at the same time there are parallelisms, e.g. in the case of home trade and economics. Controversial issues include the lack of bibliographic workshops and the unequal standard of bibliographic activities. The current bibliographies are prepared during a too long period, retrospective bibliographies, on the other hand, are overdimensioned. To succeed in realizing the principle of single processing-multiple use, a close cooperation is necessary between the Hungarian National Bibliography and the special bibliographic ventures. Urgent tasks include the development of a national database of periodicals articles and the compilation of secondary bibliographies. (pp. 493-502)

On the bibliographies of social sciences.

BORSOSNÉ ZÉTÉNY Angéla

The lecture approaches its subject matter from the point of praxis, and analyses it with the eye of a practising bibliographer and information specialist. Its aim is to provoke a discussion on the present circumstances, on the difficulties hindering the development of the national system of bibliographies, on the ways of establishing therein a complex system of social science bibliographies, on the preconditions of the operation of a cost-efficient, well-organized and transparent bibliographic system. The second part of the lecture reviews bibliography and information in the past 20 years, their accomplishments and failures in the field of social sciences. (pp. 503-515)

The findings and some problems of research into the bibliographies of literary scholarship.

LÁNG József

Bibliographic processing and publication in the field of literary scholarship were till the middle of this century decisively of current nature. The first retrospective bibliographic venture was a hidden bibliography in Jeno Pintér’s history of Hungarian literature published in the period 1930 to 1941. The plans of the retrospective bibliography were born already in 1957, still the first volume of the series (on the history of Hungarian literature from the start to 1772 ) was published in 1972 only. The volume on the period 1772-1848 was published in 1975. Another two volumes were published in 1982 and 1989 with bibliographic data on the work of authors of the period 1905-1945. The period between 1849-1905 is now being processed. The annual bibliographies of articles on literary history were compiled on ongoing basis. They were published till 1976 in the Journal “Irodalomtörténeti Közlemények”, in the period between 1976 and 1983 – as individual volumes by the National Széchényi Library. Unfortunately, since then the National Széchényi Library has ceased their publication for financial considerations. From among the bibliographies already prepared the following are worth mentioning: that of populist authors, of writings on Hungarian literature published in the neighbouring countries, and some outstanding author bibliographies (Ady, Géza Csáth, Kazinczy, Krúdy, Móricz). The author is of the opinion that the bibliography of literary scholarship is oriented too much towards special literature and neglects textological research. To avoid this, the mapping of Hungarian journals publishing literary texts too has started. The search for anthologies and collections on literary scholarship has been begun with a similar aim. The author blames the special bibliographies for covering a too narrow range of sources. Research is uncoordinated, methods are heterogeneous, the time taken by editing and printing is too long. (pp. 516-522)

State of the art of special bibliography on applied sciences and science.

VAJDA Erik

The author discusses in detail the present and desirable development trends of special bibliography on technology, agriculture, medicine, etc. The special bibliographies in the field of applied sciences and science in Hungary are of varied standard. As a whole, they cannot be qualified as poor, but in significant fields they do not make up a unified system. Cooperation and the application of modern technology, the creation and multifold use of databases are urgent requirements, the prerequisites of which are compatibility, the creation and application of standards. On the other hand, the situation of the financing of special bibliographic activities is increasingly disquieting. (pp. 523-534)

The fate of local bibliography in Hungary.

KOROMPAI Gáborné

Local bibliography is termed by the author as scientific activities connected by a geographical principle. The listing of historical works relating to specified localities started in the second half of the last century (by Iván Nagy, Arnold Ipolyi). The first volume of József Szinnyei’s bibliography of periodicals articles on history and its auxiliary sciences was published in 1874. Local work in institutions and the processing of local collections started with the organization of the Budapest Collection of the Metropolitan Library. Local research of sociographical, sociological motives began to grow in the first half of this century. After 1945 the research of this type stagnated for a long time. It was the 1st National Conference on Bibliography (1961, Gödöllo) and the 1964 decree (making it obligatory for county libraries to collect and process materials relating to their locality) that gave a new impetus to the case of bibliography. In the 1970′s regular seminars dealt with local bibliography. Looking back from our days some criticism is justified: a lot of useless publications were compiled, tasks were dissipated, genres were merged, there were many fashionable subjects and at the same time many gaps. Retrospective ventures are lacking, a precise secondary bibliography would be needed of Hungarian and Hungary-related local bibliographies. The author supports the idea of establishing a national bibliographic institute, noting that she considers the Library of the Central Statistical Office apt for this role. (pp. 535-549)

The workshop of the bibliography of Budapest’s local history.

CSOMOR Tibor.

The Budapest Collection, established in 1913, has become to our days a workshop of national importance in the field of local bibliography. Some of its major series: Bibliographic Works at the Budapest Collection of the Metropolitan Public Library, Bibliography of the history of Budapest (about the town’s history till 1950), Budapest pamphlets (about timely issues of town policy), and the catalogue of pictures entitled The history of Budapest in pictures (with data on pictures published in printed sources tilt 1980). In the same workshop are compiled the annual current volumes of the Bibliography of the history of Budapest (from 1980). The author discusses the subject and structure of the bibliographies, issues of methodology, contents, scope etc., the findings of a user survey and the desirable trends of future bibliographic activities. (pp. 550.563)

 

Kategória: 1990. 5-6. szám | A közvetlen link.

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