Changes of the copyright law. Part 1.
KISS Zoltán
Since September 1999 the legal protection of the rights of authors and their intellectual achievements have been regulated by a new copyright law.
The scope of copyright law has been expanded to include artistic pieces of photography, cartography and cartographic works. The author has personal and material rights. It is new that personal rights, similarly to material rights, are in force only within the protection period. The protection period is 70 years for authors, however, authors who died between 31 December 1928 and 31 December 1943 enjoy protection again, and so do sound recordings from after 1948. So far as material rights are concerned, it is a novelty that the author is entitled for a fee proportionate to the income gained by the utilisation of his/her work. From 1 September 2000 a reprography fee has to be paid to the authors of pieces produced by photocopying or other methods of multiplication. Book and journal publishers will also get their share of this income. New acts are included in the law concerning the utilisation contracts. The regulation setting the minimal fee and the time span of utilisation has got out of force, and these can be fixed freely in contracts. Pieces belonging under free use belong under stricter definitions. Public libraries may lend individual copies of the works freely, however, softwares or computer files cannot be lent by them either.
Fifty years of the training of librarians at the university
The Department of Library Science and Informatics, Faculty of Arts, Loránd Eötvös University celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1999. The head of the department, György Sebestyén (The role and significance of the Department of Library Science, FA, LEU in Hungarian and international librarianship) summarised the history of the department outlining the cultural historical and political background from 1949 up till now, indicating what impact changes of international and Hungarian librarianship (these days for example the emergence of the information society, globalisation, or the new library act) had on the curriculum of the training. The department intends to educate well-trained, independent, creative professionals, with the feeling of the responsibility of intellectuals, who are capable of quality library and information work, who are able to manage such institutions, to prepare decisions, and to do research. The department has to adapt to changes permanently, and has to monitor and modernise the training.
A one-time student of the department, György Kókay (As the first students of librarianship saw it…) remembered in a personal encounter what it was like to be a university student in the fifties, and recollected the excellent, scholarly lecturers of those times, Béla Kéki, Béla Varjas, László Mezey, Béla Kohalmi.
Sándor Szabó spoke about the more recent past (Thoughts on the history of the Department of Library Science and Informatics, LEU, in the seventies and eighties). In the seventies the life of the department was more inconsequent. Department heads followed one-another, and did not have time to pursue their ideas. The situation has consolidated after the nomination of Géza Fülöp (1986). Plans were elaborated concerning the curriculum, the programme, and the staff of the department. The new curriculum was oriented towards information science, and subjects of the sociology of reading were incorporated in it again. It was considered a drawback that at the time of the two-subject training only majors from the faculty of arts could be chosen. Since then one-subject training has been introduced, and any other subject can be selected. Two successful postgraduate courses have also been started (one in informatics, the other in the history of librarianship). The low number of students, and its negative consequences were recurring problems of the 80s. The underfinancing of academic training had lead to difficulties in staffing and recruitment.
The outstanding, and decisive personality, Géza Fülöp, late department head, who passed away recently was also remembered (Barátné Hajdu Ágnes: Introducing the Géza Fülöp memorial volume). A volume in honour of him was published by his late students, friends, and those who respected him.
Baráthné summarised the history of the preparation of the memorial volume.
False track or a torso? Regional libraries were founded fifty years ago
TÓTH Gyula
District libraries were libraries working between 1949–1951 with the primary function of organising public libraries, in fact, reorganising the public library system. They were working parallel with existing town libraries, independently of them. Regional libraries had a core collection, and brought depository collections to small village libraries. The author attempts to show what role this type of library played in the development of Hungarian librarianship by using archive documents, and through personal detection. Answering the question in the title, he thinks that the organisation of these libraries cannot be completely rejected as a false track. The idea was good, since the aim was to develop people’s libraries into a public library system proper, based on the realisation that only a system can offer comprehensive services. However, ideas were put to practice in a wrong way, and as a result of the loosening of the programme, the people’s library approach (quantity above all, principles of education in the foreground, poor collection, no choice, untrained staff, etc.) dominated. The author considers district library efforts a part of the process towards modern public librarianship, and an attempt for the creation of the public library that deteriorated under the Soviet influence. The system of regional libraries, covering larger areas, was followed by the hierarchical system of county and district libraries, bound to smaller administrative units. Further research is needed to reveal the contradictions and answer the remaining questions.
After the Fall. Notes to fifty years of Hungarian librarianship
PAPP István
Subjective and ironic essay on the heroic age of librarianship. The author speaks about many things, unavoidably about the policy and cultural policy of the past fifty years, and the possibilities allowed by these conditions to librarianship. There are snapshots of the training of librarians, the competition between librarians and people’s educators, the crazy space of technical development from stencils and typewriters to computerised catalogues, of intellectuals who had become political suspects, and who, in spite of their other qualifications, got to libraries, and made the world of librarians more colourful, and also strengthened it. The author remembers professional debates that often had political overtones as well, and shows how many compromises the profession had to make in order to survive, and develop, though between the given limits. Uncomfortable questions are also put: where Hungarian librarianship would stand now if we lived among different circumstances for the past 50 years. Does the level of our public library system match our social, economic and cultural level? How much would be spent on libraries, if tax payers were making the decision? Librarians have one thing to do: permanently prove their importance for the society.
Memories, experiences, remarks – on the fifty-year old public librarianship
KISS Jenő
The author analyses the past 50 years dividing it into three periods: the heroic age (1949–1952), the 70s (1968–1977) and the last years (1985–1998). In the heroic age the People’s Library Centre played an important role, that used to be the methodological leader of small (people’s libraries) helping the work of district libraries by central acquisition, processing, training, and methodological guidance. In 1952 government decree was passed on the development of the library system, according to which the system of public libraries had to follow that of the administrative units. Central tasks and services had become the responsibility of the National Széchényi Library, and the methodological department founded there.
He considers the seventies the golden age of development, when the public library system was renewed (cf. the article by István Sallai in KF. 1999. 2.), professional guidelines were elaborated, provision systems had come into being, libraries were built, and a unified library system was developed.
For the past fifteen years, and especially after the political change, the number of libraries decreased, small libraries, incapable of surviving, were closed down, and meanwhile acquisition started to stagnate due to financial restraints. The act of local administration made community governments responsible for the maintenance of libraries, without giving them normative budgetary resources. Therefore it had become very difficult to maintain the traditional level of provision. Town libraries were characterised by increasing demand and in-house use, and the service attitude strengthened in librarians. The most important event of this period was the elaboration of the cultural (library) law in 1997.
Between past and future. Librarian roles in the past ten years
HAVAS Katalin
In the past years, public libraries have undergone many changes: the collection of books and journals offered has changed, and so did the sources of acquisition. The composition, mentality and demands of users towards library services have all been altered, and it had turned out that libraries are full of non-used material. Resources for daily operations, acquisition, and automation must be supplemented from applications, through clever negotiations. It means that the librarians’ attitude must also change to a great extent. In the past the state created possibilities for libraries by giving them money for books, the publication of which were allowed by the same state. Though Hungarian publishing was of a high niveau, it worked under political control up till 10-15 years ago. The publishing of documentary novels, memories, reports was started offering a very great choice of books and journals. Librarians realised that acquisitions have to be speeded up, and stricter selection is required, more items of the old collections must be weaned out, and the available resources must be used very cleverly in contrast to high book and journal prices. Meanwhile the same level of offers must be maintained for readers, and it had to be accepted that videos (their loan being a means of raising incomes) attract viewers as well to the library. The space and the collection also had to be organised differently. Family libraries offered a new solution, the essence of which is the formation of broader categories of reading matter (entertainment, esoterica, etc.), and more cosy, smaller rooms were offered for reading. The former educator role of the librarian started to fade away. Community information services emerged, in which the librarian did not only have to provide bibliographic and factographic data, but also had to aid finding ones way in everyday life. Dealing with the elderly, unemployed, homeless, and other groups of „problem users” also required a shift of attitudes. The public librarian’s role, if played well, involves not only acquisition and selection skills, the knowledge of literature, but – when it comes to raising funds and writing applications – also being good at economics, and a good manager, while s/he is also a good teacher or special educator, an erudite critic, and a good cultural manager as well.