The thesaurus of the National Széchényi Library and the KÖZTAURUSZ
UNGVÁRY Rudolf
The idea of a comprehensive thesaurus occurred already in the 1980s. It came into being at the
end of 2000 thanks to the coincidence of several factors: during the past decades more than fifty
thesauri have been constructed in Hungary, and some of these are available electronically as well.
A user-friendly programme for the construction of thesauri is also available, and some public
libraries have helped in the organisation of the gathered word-stock. The study offers a detailed
description of the history of the construction, the structure of the thesaurus, and examples
illustrate the export of the HUNMARC data exchange format that can be performed by means of the
thesaurus management system. The thesaurus is used by several public libraries, the National Széchényi
Library, and other institutions will also be able to utilise it to greater or smaller extent.
