Domsa Károlyné, Fekete Gézáné, Kovács Mária (szerk.): Gondolatok a könyvtárban / Thoughts in the Library (A MTAK közleményei 30. Budapest, 1992)
An academic library as an integrated information centre: the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
The Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences collections and information services is provided in Hungary not by a single institution, but rather by the cooperation of three institutions. In the following I shall describe one member of this cooperative system, namely LHAS, including certain international aspects. Also relevant to the above considerations are two studies published in Alexandria in 1990, one on the necessity and nature of national libraries, the other on ... i 2 the paranational library functions of a university library. * LHAS: Roots and characteristics alive today The 160-year old LHAS embodies the targets set and the characteristics it was endowed with at the time of its foundation — continuity, combined with the meeting of present day information requirements — renewal. These are described below. 1. The first characteristic of the LHAS is that, like its parent body, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (founded a year earlier in 1825), it was established not by royal grace or by the state but in response to the initiative of patriotic and reform-minded members of the aristocracy, by contemporary Hungarian society. 2. The historical organic unity of the academy and its library can be regarded as the second characteristic. The library was the first, and up to 1945, the only institution of the academy. Indeed, they functioned in the same building from 1865 until November 1988, when the new library was inaugurated. This is in the same building complex as the academy, but its special collections (manuscripts, Oriental collection) remain in the academy building itself. In many instances the functions of academic and library personnel were also combined. For instance, the first catalogue of the LHAS, and organizational bylaws for the year 1848, were both compiled by Ferenc Toldy, Secretary General of the Academy. 3 3. The library was founded by the first President of the academy, Count Jôzsef Teleki, with his own family library, containing 30.000 volumes, in order to serve the development of the Hungarian language and to be used for research. According to the conditions prevailing under the Hapsburg monarchy during the first decades of the 19th century, German (with Latin) was the language of scholarship in Hungary. The founder ordered the collection to be put "at the disposal of all citizens of the country"; this gave rise to the partially national function of the LHAS, referred to above. 4. The library supports the academy's role in international research, most Gondolatok a könyvtárban " 31
