Professional policy to be followed in case of being nominated to director general of the National Széchényi Library
POPRÁDY Géza
Géza Poprády was appointed director general of the national (Library in May 1994. The article is the programme of the new director general representing technocratic managerial views. Tasks are categorized as professional and organizational ones, technical issues and short, medium and long term objectives. So far as acquisition is concerned, he would- solve the problems of the legal deposit service by new legal regulations including the reduction of the number of copies, tax reduction, and sanctioning. With regard to the occurrence of new media (such as electronic journals, etc.) he finds the renewal of acquisition necessary for the National Széchényi Library. The coordination of acquisition would be the task of an acquisition council. The protection of the collection of the National Széchényi Library is important, and has to be carried out without limiting the provision for users. He intends to reduce problems by reproduction, the modernization of air conditioning in the stacks, and by designing new underground stores. Minor rationalizations are also planned with respect to the Hungarian National Bibliography and the bibliographic control of Hungarica materials. From among central services, the issues related to the union catalogue of books and to interlibrary tending are émphasized. The present union catalogue of books in card form will be turned into a database available on-line. Interlending would be enhanced by the computerized registration of queries, and by utilizing e-mail and telefax. In the field of computerization the installation of the acquisition and lending modules, and the involvement of special collections are the major tasks. The professional support to the cultural administration would be provided by the Centre for Library Science and Methodology after minor reorganization. He finds only some small changes necessary on the organizational level. (pp. 351-358)
The Periodicals Group started to work
BILLÉDI Ferencné
Following foreign examples (such as the vast projects related to the development of the handling of periodicals in libraries initiated by the Serials Section of IFLA, and the European Association of Serials’ Societies being organized these days, etc.) it occurred that a similar organization would be necessary in Hungary, too. In November 1993 Hungarian library experts subscribed to the plans, and the Library of the Budapest Technical University assumed the task of coordinating the organization. Activities started in April 1994 with the meeting entitled “Periodicals : current issues”. The contributions of Zsoltné Nagy and Graham Waters included in our present issue were also prepared for this event. (pp. 359-360)
The automated current periodicals bibliography and its services
NAGY Zsoltné
The National Széchényi Library ventured to prepare a bibliography of current periodicals on regular basis first in 1976 when Kurrens Idoszaki Kiadványok (Current Serials) was started. Magyar Nemzeti Bibliográfia. Idoszaki Kiadványok Bibliográfiája (Hungarian National Bibliography. Bibliography of Serials) had been published annually since 1981, then biannually after 1986. Due to the lack of software capable of the preparation of the national bibliography of periodicals, the registration of data was solved by a Micro-ISIS based software developed at the National Széchényi Library creating the Magyar Periodika Adatbázis (Hungarian Periodical Database). The database is available on-line as an element of a network today. The database contains the records of periodicals issued in Hungary, received by the national library as legal deposits. The content of the database, the search options, the records derivable from the database, and the services based on the HPD are summarized in the study. (pp. 361-367)
The Oracle Libraries integrated library system is introduced
VAJDA Mária
IQSOFT, an Austro-Hungarian joint venture founded in 1990, has become the exclusive distributor of the English Oracle Libraries. The integrated system was developed by Fretwell-Downing, and is distributed by Oracle UK. The present 5.1 version covers all the traditional library functions, and is capable of performing a number of individual tasks. The system has the great advantage of being independent of hardware, and it may be used both in centralized and in shared processing environment. It is available in multimedia OPAC MS Windows version. (pp. 368-373)
Changes of the book market in Hungary
LORINCZ Judit
Market economy develops slowly in former socialist countries due to the lack of capital, and the backwardness of infrastructure. The book market has also changed considerably in Hungary since the transition, 1990. Beside official and occasional publishers small workshops also appeared, and alternative (street) book trade started. The scale of this alternative form of distribution is impossible to estimate due to the lack of statistical data. Bread-and-butter worries pushed book purchase down to the bottom of the structure of the consumption of the average citizen. The publishing of fiction and non-fiction has increased since 1988, while that of scientific and special books has decreased. In 1990 the number of domestic and foreign Hungarian publishers, editors, printing houses, and distributors amounted to about 2000 all together. Books in Print was started in 1993 surveying commercially available books. The choice of book publishing widened, but the average size of editions decreased. It could be an aim that the products of book publishing be statistically measurable and comparable in East Central Europe. (pp. 374-377)
Administrative library in the Eger County Hall
SZECSKÓ Károlyné
Though the administrative department of Heves County Library belongs to the county library, it works in the building of the County Council (today local government), adapting to the business hours of the staff of the office from early morning till the afternoon, providing them with administrative, legal and political information and literature. The majority of users are recruited from the office staff, though the library is open to anyone. Legal information services are supported by a computerized database of legal regulations named “Kartoték”. Overlapping is unavoidable between the legal department (special library) and the collection of the county library, but division of labour, and close cooperation are determining principles. The most difficult problem is harmonizing opening hours, since the county library is open in the evenings, too, while the department is open only during working hours. (pp. 378-382)
The legal and administrative special library of the Veszprém county government
JURICS Imréné
A legal special library was organized 10 years ago in the building of the Veszprém County Council (today government) and has been maintained ever since with the aim of providing the staff with special literature, and offering information services to the staff of Iocal governments as well. The article gives an account of the foundation of the library, that of collection development, and computerization. (pp.383-389)