Tőkés László: Az Akadémiai Könyvtár mikrokönyv gyűjteménye és fotolaboratóriuma (A MTAK kiadványai 27. Budapest, 1962)

/. ahm. Mikrofilmfelvevö gép. — A microfilm camera to substitute for the originals. This form of their use also makes it necessary to photograph the most valuable books and manuscripts of the Library and safely preserve them in the form of microcopies. This material may not only be exposed to the danger of catastrophic destruction, but also to the deleterious effects of an unsuitable atmosphere, mildew and vermin. The photographic laboratory at the Library of the Academy has, since its establishment, engaged in microfilming to preserve the stock, but the results are not yet proportionate to the requirements, to the size of the valuable stock. The most read items in the micro-library arc the microfilms of foreign origin. Microfilms are considered as an acquisition source mainly in the ease of manuscripts which may not be obtained in the original, and of old books whose lending is limited. The Academy's Library, paying due attention to the requirements of scientific research and the planned supplementing of its stock, has since 1954 regularly carried out purchases of foreign microfilms. Foreign microfilms are also sent us in the course of the international exchange of books and periodicals. By the end of 1961 the micro-library, with a stock of 4000 works, contained the microfilms of 688 manuscripts and 240 old books from abroad. They are for the greater part Hungarian literary manuscripts, old books, philological relics and curios belonging to the collecting scope of the Library and needed for the work of research scholars, but they also include numerous oriental manuscripts. This valuable collection has been assembled from the material of 80 institutions in 54 foreign towns. As examples, we may mention the microfilms of the Hungarian literary relics, manuscripts and unique books which may be found in the Rumanian and Czechoslovak libraries, the microcopies of the old Hungarian printed publications at the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek in Vienna, the British Mu10