Rózsa, George: Some Considerations of the Role of Scientific Libraries in the Age of Scientific and Technical Revolution. An Essay and Approach to the Problem (A MTAK kiadványai 50. Budapest, 1970)

Summary* The main argument of this study may be summed under the following headings: 1) Owing to its scientific and economic importance, the scientific library forms a particular field of research in itself; 2) Information spheres in the intellectual communication system of society; 3) A hypothetic multi-channel model of the flow of information carried by special literature; 4) The comparative backwardness of theoretical work in one of the main reasons for the virtual irreconcilability of contradictions between the individual tendencies in library policy and the different "oriented" approaches (library science-oriented approach: documentation-oriented approach; history-oriented approach); 5) The conception of the unity of librarianship and the library system needs to be further developed. The scientific library has two features: it appears as part of the general library system and as part of the entire body of science, and as such, is a subject of science policy; 6) The theoretical formulation and foundation of the division of labour between scientific libraries (as general) and special libraries (as particular) is one of the key issues of a further development of scientific librarianship as a whole; 7) Scientific libraries have a special task in reconciling the contradictions, divergent views, and problems arising from the debate on the "two cultures" (i.e. the [natural] scientific vs. humanistic erudition and culture); 8) Scientific libraries also have a special task in eliminating backwardness, in reaching the world standard in the economic, scientific, and technological fields, and in increasing "per capita kind feeling" in the human field. The question to be examined is whether the practice of scientific libraries (including special libraries and documentation) can rely on well-founded and developed theoretical works or studies as regards the conception of development, the requirements of the scientific and technical revolution, its place in the social division of labour and the interrelationship between its components. And whether there are some questions relating to general educational policy, * The first version of this study was published in No. 4., 1965 of Magyar Könyvszemle (p. 297 — 312), a periodical of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences with the following title: A tudományos könyvtár a tudományos-technikai forradalom korában. ( Scientific Library in the Age of the Scientific and Technical Revolution.)