Legal regulation of deposit copies
SONNEVEND Péter
Reliable legal deposit copy handling is the basis of library provision and national bibliographic services. An independent act, and a departmental order dealing with the execution of the act is required. This draft enhances this by illuminating the key problems. The legal regulation dating back to the time of the party state, still in force today, is characterized by the situation that laws passed by the Parliament prescribed the provision of legal deposits, but every detailed rule was included in orders, guidelines issued by state administration. The old 1897 law, the first regulation of the field, could serve as the basis of the new act. The aim is to cease the counterinterest of publishers and printers. The study surveys past experiences, explains what should be covered by the notion of deposit, and how these should be registered. The control of deposit copy submission as well as the refunding of deposit copies are also considered. The accessioning and distribution of copies must be regulated, and the tasks of the cultural administration assuming responsibility are also dealt with. (pp. 175-181)
Subjective encounter of the state of public libraries after the change of the system
SKALICZKI Judit
The article analyses changes in the legislation, maintenance, financing, networking and the library system that have taken place for the past 3-4 years. The fields studied are closely related to one-another. Maintenance and financing must be ensured, the elements of the library system must be determined by the library act. The financing of the public library system must be solved at the state level, through supporting central projects. There was a change in the maintenance of libraries: county councils of trade unions ceased to exist, and many of the sectorial trade unions gave up the support of libraries. Trade union libraries closed down or were absorbed by community public libraries. In a county a unified, comprehensive public library system was organized covering the whole county. At small settlements many libraries were closed down due to diminishing financial resources. It is not the number of libraries closed down that is frightening, but the number of libraries functioning at a minimal level with no or very little amount of new accessions. (pp. 182-186)
The activity of the Centre for Library Science and Methodology, National Széchényi Library in 1993
The report was compiled on the basis of that of departments. A) Expert activity is dominant in coordination: the compilation of a pack on Western European library legislation founding decisions; comments on the modification of copy right legislation. Activities related to the handling of applications, dealing with foundations, book donations from the United States were carried on. An English-Hungarian conference on management and marketing was organized; plans were made for the establishment of the Hungarian National Sound Archive; the promotion of talking books was continued; a conference was organized for children’s librarians. B.) In the field of collection development and bibliographic advising, the reorganization of the selection guide “Új Könyvek” (New Books) was inevitable. The department aided collection development in libraries, participated in the development of Hungarian libraries abroad, and dealt with problems of local studies. C.) The unit for training and methodology organized training for the three grades of the school of library assistants, contributed to similar courses in other libraries. A UNIX network was installed in classrooms for the demonstration of the management of multimedia documents in libraries. Methodological aids were prepared in the fields of library construction, furnishing, standardization and computerization. D.) In the reading research department investigations into the reading habits of teachers and Hungarians living outside the Hungarian border were continued. A collection of studies in the sociology of reading and culture (entitled: Szó – muvészet – társadalom, Words – Art – Society) and a volume including papers presented at the HUNRA Conference (entitled: Pedagógusképzés és olvasásra nevelés, Teachers’ training and education for reading) was compiled and issued. E.) The Special Library for Library Science relaxed heavy use in the examination period by extending opening hours. The majority of accessions were received through exchange of publications and gifts. Reference databases (database of domestic and foreign articles in librarianship, book database, IFLA papers, guide to services of Hungarian libraries, thesaurus of librarianship, anniversaries, directory database of libraries, etc.) are developed and made available for users.
(pp. 187-194)
Network information sources and their impact on libraries.
MOLDOVÁN István
A summary of the information minimum librarians must have about large area networks. Hardware conditions, OSI standards, services of the Information Infrastructure Development Project, the role and basic services of EARN, RARE, and Internet are dealt with. – The author describes the role of OPAC catalogues, shared cataloguing systems, electronic journals, newsletters in relation with the utilization of network information resources. Problems, requiring decisions, with the library processing of these are also raised. Gopher, a distributed textual database management system working on client-server principle, is introduced. Network information has not only advantages but disadvantages as well that must be taken into account: they are unreliable, difficult to survey, their structured management is not easy, there are many irrelevant records. Libraries must accept and get used to electronic information, too. Electronic communication, know ing no borders, is a great possibility, and it is the best if a library collects, manages and mediates electronic information relevant for its collection interest. (pp. 195-212)
Comments on the occurrence of European information culture in Hungary
SZANYI Tibor
In number 1(1991) of Könyvtári Figyelo Sándor Szalay surveyed the status of the official publications of the European Community in Hungary, of the role of AGROINFORM that had become the distributor of EC publications in 1989. Due to the closing-down or transformation of AGROINFORM a small private enterprise, Euro Info Service has become the domestic distributor of these, and since 1993 of OECD publications, too. Users may gain information from current catalogue volumes, they may also acquire major publications. Orders are made through mail-order, occasionally, and publications are delivered within two weeks. Documents may be paid for in forints. Services are mainly used by government organs, and enterprises of foreign proprietors. (pp. 213-217)
An inter-subject task: reading. (Meditation and report after the HUNRA 5. conference)
NAGY Attila
Teaching from several books, promoted for such a long time, has become a reality by now (e.g. about 1000 textbooks may be used in the primary school). Making reading a need and developing the capacity of reading comprehension is the permanent task of the school on the bases of experiences brought from home. Counter-examples were demonstrated with the aim of diminishing bad reading routines at the joint conference of HUNRA (Hungarian Reading Association) and the Section of Teacher-Librarians of the Hungarian Association of Librarians. The 23 lecturers of the conference gave lots of examples demonstrating how reading skills may be developed in the teaching of various school subjects. (pp. 218-220)
Sex in the library sexlibrary. Reply to Dénes Kövendi
ESZENYI Miklós
A reply to the contrary opinion to Eszenyi’s writing published in the former issue. (pp. 221-223)