The Bibliographer Section of the Association of Hungarian Librarians is celebrating its 30th anniversary
As a successful example of professional self-organisation, the Bibliographer Committee within the Association of Hungarian Librarians has been founded in 1973. The Committee has grown into a section, and from 1990, it continued its work under its new name. The main goals of the Committee were to co-ordinate the cataloguing activities in Hungary and enhance the scientific quality of these activities. It has created a forum for all the outstanding bibliographers of the country who laid out development policies, discussed emerging practical issues and shared their experiences with all colleagues involved in similar activities at various types of libraries. Discussion topics showed a great diversity, from the computerisation of the Hungarian National Bibliography to its current situation, from the issue of bibliographies of periodicals and newspapers to the planning of retrospective bibliographies, and to cataloguing of local information and local history.
In her article about the work of the Bibliographer Committee, KOROMPAI Gáborné evokes the period from 1973–1990, under the presidency of CSŰRY, István then LISZTES, László. BÉNYEI Miklós, president of the bibliographical section from 1990–1998 summarises the developments of this period. The current president, NAGY Anikó reports on the activities run between 1999-2003.
The Bibliographer Section of the Association of Hungarian Librarians is celebrating its 30th anniversary
As a successful example of professional self-organisation, the Bibliographer Committee within the Association of Hungarian Librarians has been founded in 1973. The Committee has grown into a section, and from 1990, it continued its work under its new name. The main goals of the Committee were to co-ordinate the cataloguing activities in Hungary and enhance the scientific quality of these activities. It has created a forum for all the outstanding bibliographers of the country who laid out development policies, discussed emerging practical issues and shared their experiences with all colleagues involved in similar activities at various types of libraries. Discussion topics showed a great diversity, from the computerisation of the Hungarian National Bibliography to its current situation, from the issue of bibliographies of periodicals and newspapers to the planning of retrospective bibliographies, and to cataloguing of local information and local history.
In her article about the work of the Bibliographer Committee, KOROMPAI Gáborné evokes the period from 1973–1990, under the presidency of CSŰRY, István then LISZTES, László. BÉNYEI Miklós, president of the bibliographical section from 1990–1998 summarises the developments of this period. The current president, NAGY Anikó reports on the activities run between 1999-2003.
The Bibliographer Section of the Association of Hungarian Librarians is celebrating its 30th anniversary
As a successful example of professional self-organisation, the Bibliographer Committee within the Association of Hungarian Librarians has been founded in 1973. The Committee has grown into a section, and from 1990, it continued its work under its new name. The main goals of the Committee were to co-ordinate the cataloguing activities in Hungary and enhance the scientific quality of these activities. It has created a forum for all the outstanding bibliographers of the country who laid out development policies, discussed emerging practical issues and shared their experiences with all colleagues involved in similar activities at various types of libraries. Discussion topics showed a great diversity, from the computerisation of the Hungarian National Bibliography to its current situation, from the issue of bibliographies of periodicals and newspapers to the planning of retrospective bibliographies, and to cataloguing of local information and local history.
In her article about the work of the Bibliographer Committee, KOROMPAI Gáborné evokes the period from 1973–1990, under the presidency of CSŰRY, István then LISZTES, László. BÉNYEI Miklós, president of the bibliographical section from 1990–1998 summarises the developments of this period. The current president, NAGY Anikó reports on the activities run between 1999-2003.
Sándor, István and the Magyar Könyvesház, the first Hungarian national bibliography
POGÁNY, György
The study focuses on the bibliographical work of István SÁNDOR (1750–1815), but it also touches upon on his other literary and research activities. Born in a wealthy landowner family and having received outstanding education, István Sándor dedicated his life to literary ambitions. He started publishing literary translations, but his bibliographical interest was revealed already in his first publication in 1778. In the 1780′s, he established contacts with many of the most important Hungarian scholars while his personal knowledge was also extending through his reading and a number of trips in Western Europe. The encyclopaedic approach, typical of the age of the enlightenment, started to prevail in his works. In his encyclopaedic work titled “Sokféle” (Miscellaneous) and written by him alone, he published articles in history, linguistics, history of arts and bibliography. Through his research work and international contacts, he realised that Hungarian literature and culture are hardly known abroad. It was in “Sokféle” that he published his first real bibliographical work about the books published in Hungarian language in the 16th century. He first mentioned the bibliographic work in process in one of his articles in 1799. The bibliography, under the title “Magyar Könyvesház” (Hungarian Bibliography) was published in Győr in 1803.
The present study attempts to restore Sándor’s sources and methodology from the footnotes of the Bibliography as well as the references found in “Sokféle”. The Bibliography offers a chronological display of the data of 3,632 Hungarian language books published between 1533 and 1800. For the background research to the Bibliography, Sándor used his own library, did research at the Royal Library in Vienna as well as at libraries in the Hungarian towns of Debrecen and Eger. He had assistance from several colleagues who were sending him titles. Sándor used nearly all important works of 18th century Hungarian literary history, including booksellers’ catalogues (published in an increasing number from the end of the century). He could not have used the catalogue of Ferenc Széchényi’s library (today the National Library of Hungary), as some of the items of the library catalogue are missing from Sándor’s bibliography. Sándor was preparing to re-edit his work, but after some time, his attention turned to other areas. In his testimony, he dedicated his collection to the Hungarian Scientists’ Society, together with 10.000 forints. The exact reconstruction of his bibliography remains subject to further research.
Electronic periodicals at libraries
STUMPF-BENEDEK, Anna
Libraries might still be suspicious of locally stored and online electronic periodicals. The present study deals with the library-related management issues that arise with these publications. After clarifying terms and dealing with general questions of electronic journal publishing, the focus is on the purchase of online journals. The topics include selection, purchase (via e-journal packages, subscription agencies or consortia), cancellation of print journals, cataloguing, maintenance and providing access.
Records of web-based documents in OPAC–cataloguing electronic documents
BÁTFAI, Mária Erika
The author provides a case study of cataloguing web-based documents by Debrecen University and National Library. Following a clarification of the general context of searching the web, the study gives an insight to the details of the cataloguing process. At Debrecen University Library, electronic documents are catalogued and added directly to the library OPAC. The documents subject to this process are all the e-journals that the library subscribes to. Cataloguers have to decide what the description unit should be, which items should be catalogued as separate records, what the document type is etc. Since 2001, the alphabetical list and the ETO-based thematic list of catalogued e-journal records, as well as the list of newly subscribed journals are displayed on the library website. Further development plans include the creation of title lists by academic disciplines.
Archaeology and its professional literature
KOVÁCS, Valéria
In Hungary, scientific archaeological activities started in the 19th century. Its development was fostered by the organisation of the country’s scientific life, the educational reform, and the birth of scientific publishing. The author gives a definition of archaeology and presents its research areas, secondary sciences and the most important publications in Hungarian language. The scientific activity of a few famous Hungarian archaeologists (Flóris Rómer, Imre Henszlmann, János Érdy) is also summarised. The formation of the Archaeological Committee of the Hungarian Scientists’ Society, then the launch of the Archaeological Journal in 1868 were also important milestones in the history of Hungarian archaeology. It was the journal that radically improved the public awareness of both archaeology and the collection of antiques. At its early stages, the journal’s main mission was the promotion of archaeology. It was informing readers about national excavations, about museum developments, but also about the most important international research activities. Later, in addition to its main focus on historical monuments, it expanded its areas of interests to the history of fine arts and applied arts. The initial promoting feature was lessened and the journal gradually became a forum for experts. It is also the journal’s merit that by the end of the first period of Hungarian archaeology (end of the 19th century), the sub-disciplines were set out, the Hungarian terminology was born and archaeology became an academic discipline tought at universities.
Maros county in the books. The practical issues of cataloguing local information
FÜLÖP, Mária
The bibliographer department of Maros County Library (Romania) decided to create a local bibliography in order to satisfy local information needs. First they defined the geographical area covered by Maros county, then they started to collect the records of famous people coming from the county. Using these sources, they launched a bibliography of biographies, the first volume of which (edited by Anna Cosma) introduces the Romanian writers of Maros county. A series of Bibliographies of Maros was also started, the 5th volume of which, called “Maros county in the books 1990 – 1999″, is presented in detail by the author. Topics of the article include the selection of items for the bibliography, how the processing and the reference services based on the processed material were going on simultaneously with using TINLIB, which were the day-to-day problems of processing and indexing, and what the further development plans are.
Social sciences bibliographies in Transylvania
MEISTER, Róbert
The author is bibliographer at the Central University Library of Cluj University. He mentions a few valuable, yet not very well known social sciences bibliographies, then presents in detail the bibliographical database of Romanian Hungarian social sciences literature, edited by himself, covering the period 1990-1999. The database is a more complete version of an earlier publication. The author shares with the readers the theoretical problems that emerged during the editing work (why literary history and literary sciences can become important for the selection of social sciences documents), then presents the structure of the database and the indexing method.
FEATHER, John P.: Theoretical perspectives of the information society
Translated by Koltay, T.
It is difficult to agree on what the term “information society” exactly means and how it is related to the notions of information age and post-industrial society. There are various approaches to the theoretical definition of information society, coming from the fields of economic sciences, technology, sociology and history. The study gives an overview of these various models.
Brief digital library vade mecum
KOLTAY, Tibor
Digital libraries bring up a number of issues, their judgement and roles are not clearly formulated yet. The author lists the most frequently asked questions touching upon the relation between user and technology, referring to the most recent professional publications (by Borgman, Deegan-Tanner, Chowdhury, Lynch) as well as to the Hungarian Librarians’ Handbook. The study summarises the features of digital libraries and their roles in scientific communication and lists all the trends that have to be taken in consideration when planning future digital libraries.
DÁN, Krisztina: School librarians’ handbook
Reviewed by Stumpf-Benedek, A.
DEEGAN, M. – TANNER, S. Digital Future. Strategies for the information age
Reviewed by Koltay, T.
ARMS, W.Y.: Digital libraries
Reviewed by Koltay, T.
LEVINSON, P.: Digital McLuhan
Reviewed by Koltay, T.
CHOWDHURY, G. – CHOWDHURY, S.: Introduction to digital libraries
Reviewed by Koltay, T.