C. Csapodi, E. Moravek et al.(szerk.): The Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1826–1961.

II. The Use of the Library

Books are lent by the Circulation Department, and home lending is permitted — as a rule — only for members of the Academy, scholars and scientists with Doctor's or Candidate's degrees, research workers at the institutes of the Academy, university staff, and the scientific workers of other libraries. Works published under a series title, dictionaries, books of special value, old books, rarities, periodicals and manuscripts may not be taken out, Reference work is done partly by the Information Section of the Circulation Department, and partly by the Reference and Bibliographical Department set up in 1953. The latter is charged with supplying the Presidium and the scientific and administrative organs as well as the institutes of the Academy with information, bibliographies, etc. The department replies to numerous inquiries on the past of the Academy, international scientific relations, the work of notable scientists and scholars, and on matters of scientific policy and organization. In addition, scientific bibliographies are issued, and the Accession list of foreign publications is also published by the Department in 10 issues annually. A staircase that opens 011 to the courtyard leads up to the Department of Manuscripts and Old Books located on the first floor. The Department consists of four intercommunicating rooms each furnished like an old one-room library (Fig. 16). The first of them is a reading room for 8 readers. All round the walls, in closed glass bookcases, are shelved old manuscripts and books printed or published in Hungary up to 1711 and works published abroad which are in Hungarian or are written hy Hungarian authors or deal with Hungary, Hungarian men or Hungarian conditions. In the corner of the first room is a separate fire-proof cabinet with safes. A wooden staircase leads up to the gallery which also houses a number of manuscripts and other material. The Library of the Academy has, from its very inception, collected not only printed matter, but also manuscripts, including codices, old manuscripts, documents, records, collections of historical sources, literary and scientific reliquia of every kind which were collected without any well-defined scope. To manage this heterogeneous material, a Department of Manuscripts was set up in 1916 under the guidance of Floris Romer, the archaeologist and archivist, who arranged the material in 16 subject fields. The older material is still ar18