36. évfolyam, 1990. 5-6. szám

Archívum

The fate of local bibliography in Hungary.

KOROMPAI Gáborné

Local bibliography is termed by the author as scientific activities connected by a geographical principle. The listing of historical works relating to specified localities started in the second half of the last century (by Iván Nagy, Arnold Ipolyi). The first volume of József Szinnyei's bibliography of periodicals articles on history and its auxiliary sciences was published in 1874. Local work in institutions and the processing of local collections started with the organization of the Budapest Collection of the Metropolitan Library. Local research of sociographical, sociological motives began to grow in the first half of this century. After 1945 the research of this type stagnated for a long time. It was the 1st National Conference on Bibliography (1961, Gödöllo) and the 1964 decree (making it obligatory for county libraries to collect and process materials relating to their locality) that gave a new impetus to the case of bibliography. In the 1970's regular seminars dealt with local bibliography. Looking back from our days some criticism is justified: a lot of useless publications were compiled, tasks were dissipated, genres were merged, there were many fashionable subjects and at the same time many gaps. Retrospective ventures are lacking, a precise secondary bibliography would be needed of Hungarian and Hungary-related local bibliographies. The author supports the idea of establishing a national bibliographic institute, noting that she considers the Library of the Central Statistical Office apt for this role. (pp. 535-549)

Országos Széchényi Könyvtár Észrevételek