Meditation at the beginning of the academic year.
SZENTE Ferenc
Libraries organically belong to the intellectual development of humanity. Our present situation and our near future are determined by the global social crisis and the information revolution. For the management of information educated information specialists will be needed. Librarians and information specialists should put faith in their role and be committed supporters and masters of the profession.
Hungarian Institutes abroad and their libraries 1.
Cultural diplomacy and its institutional system are part of the re-formulation of Hungarian external affairs. In this first part of a series the Hungarian Institutes in Berlin, Sofia, Vienna and Delhi, and their libraries are introduced. In the next issue the Institutes in Rome, Paris, Moscow, Prague, Warsaw and Helsinki will be described. It is common for the fate of these libraries that they are in want of room, their resources are limited, they have no full-time, professional librarians. The Institutes organize high-level programmes. To assist their work and the formation of an authentic image of Hungary consciously organized, professionally correct libraries providing up-to-date services would be needed. (pp. 556-576)
The Institute of Hungarian Culture in Sofia.
KIRÁLY Zoltán (pp. 560-564)
The House of Hungarian Culture in Berlin.
HEGEDUS Etelka (pp. 564-567)
The Hungarian Information and Cultural Centre in Delhi.
NYUSZTAY László (pp. 567-570)
The Library of the Collegium Hungaricum in Vienna.
SCHMÉL Ferencné (pp. 570-572)
The Library of the Finno-Ugrian Languages Department at the Vienna University.
RIESE, Timothy (pp. 573)
A documentation collection of Hungarian ecclesiastic life in Vienna.
EMMERICH András (pp. 574-576)
The librarian’s electronic environment.
KOKAS Károly
Thanks to the Hungarian Information Infrastructure Development Programme more and more libraries in Hungary can avail themselves of the benefits of computerized networks. The first part of the article discusses the use of electronic mail in libraries, and various electronic „clubs” (listserv). The access to bulletin-board systems and online public-access catalogues from Hungary is illustrated by the example of the British computerized academic information system JANET. Finally, from among public-access online services the ECHO system is presented as an opportunity to obtain basic online searching skills. (pp. 577-587)
The electronic mail system ELLA.
IIF Koordinációs Iroda
The ELLA system was developed in the Computer Applications Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, with support from the Information Infrastructure Development Programme. With its help electronic correspondence can be carried on by personal computers linked with the X.25 network. ELLA can be connected with similar systems, and some well-known international mail systems (such as EARN, UUCP) can be accessed with its help. The article describes the structure of ELLA, the use of the software and some of its supposedly interesting functions.
(pp. 590-593)
ALEPH: A new integrated library system at the Central Library of the Budapest Technical University
REMZSO Gábor
The integrated library system ALEPH including the subnetwork set up at the Central Library and the corresponding new services are dealt with. The basic specifications of the system are also described. (pp. 594-596)
The Information System of Libraries in Zala County.
BARANYAI György
Public libraries operating in Zala county and the local foundations for book promotion prepared a joint application for the support provided by the Ministry of Culture and Education in 1991 to community information services and to the use of new communication technology. The application of Zala public libraries had three aims: 1/ to maintain the already operating offline database services in the five biggest libraries of the county and to extend their offer, 2/ to create an open, offline accessibility of services via telephone, 3/ to complement the system by an online service via telephone, by disseminating the offer of local public libraries. From the autumn of 1991 the ZALACOM-FRISSLOM Library Services and Information System has already been operating. It provides access to major Hungarian databases (such as PRESSDOK – a press articles database, KARTOTÉK – a register of legal regulations, TEXTAR – a database management system) (pp. 597-601)
The state of the art of conservation and preservation in Eastern and Western European libraries.
POPRÁDY Géza
The essay is an abridged version of a lecture held at the conference „East and West European dialogue between national libraries” (Vienna, April 1991). Comparing the state of the art of conservation in Eastern and Western European libraries, the author found that in the Western countries the application of intensive methods is more advanced, i.e. they can preserve large quantities of materials by making investments, developments, with minor costs of preliminary work. Eastern European countries on the other hand have gone the way of the extensive, i.e. classical development of restoration. These two methods have evolved because in developed Western countries funds for investment can be more easily obtained, they can also pay the staff working in restoration well, although they seldom get a new staff post. In Eastern countries the manpower is cheap; it is, however, more difficult to get investment, development capital, and even librarians do not adequately realize the importance of conservation. (pp. 602-607)
State of the art of the information infrastructure of higher education and research in Hungary.
ENGLONER Gyula
The Hungarian administration decided that higher education should catch up with the European level. The Ministry of Culture and Education compiled a report for the government on the state of the art and development of the information infrastructure of institutes of higher education and of public collections. The article is an abridged version of the report and includes a comparison with more developed countries. The situation of Hungarian higher education from the point of information has been supported by a number of programmes, such as the Information Infrastructure Development Programme or the Electronization Economic Development programme. The HUNINET association operating since May 1990 provides a good framework for cooperation too. At present its members include 25 universities, college faculties, colleges. We shall come back to the fate of the report in a later issue. (pp. 608-618)
Computer technique in Hungarian academic libraries. A conference. ( Miskolc , 27-28 August, 1991)
The Miskolc University Library organized a two-day conference for university libraries and large libraries with national responsibilities in order to discuss their developments in the field of computer technique. The participants stated that up-to-date information technology is indispensable for controlling, cataloguing and classifying and making available Hungarian and international materials. In this field Hungary has a considerable backlog. The deficiencies in the establishment of computerised bibliographic information systems and in joining international systems should be eliminated by the end of the century. The measures to be taken to this end should be elaborated in 1991, and later the information system on special literature based on large Hungarian research libraries be established. For this purpose a national database should be set up, the Information Infrastructure Development Programme should be developed, the internal electronic network of large libraries should be created, and international networks be joined. (pp. 619-622)