AZ ORSZÁGOS SZÉCHÉNYI KÖNYVTÁR ÉVKÖNYVE 1957. Budapest (1958)

Gombocz István: Az Országos Széchényi Könyvtár külföldi kapcsolatai. 1953—1957

A group of 35 visited libraries in Vienna and another 23-member group made a trip to Slovakia. The need for additional official missions and trips abroad by groups and individuals is greatly felt. The Hungarian Centre for International Exchange was established in 1955. This service became increasingly responsible for the carrying out of the international exchange of duplicates and official publications; it has also been acting as forwarding agency for packages coming from abroad. The Centre was equally entrusted with the implementation of exchanges arising out of bilateral cultural agreements between thesocialist countries and has been exercising this activity ever since. In 1957 more than 17,000 publications were received and nearly the same quantity was sent through this Centre's services. The inter-library loan, on a nation-wide scale, between Hungarian and foreign libraries, is centralized in the National Széchényi Library. Annually about 5,000 requests are handled; the number of requests arriving from abroad is showing an increasing tendency. In its capacity as legal successor to the Hungarian Libraries Board, the National Széchényi Library joined several national library organizations, such as ALA, ASLIB, LAA, etc. From 1954 to the end of 1957 this Library also participated, as national member, in the activities of FID. The Library's representative attended the International Congress of Libraries and Documentation Centres in Brussels. From 1954 on relations with the Library Division of Unesco have been strengthened; collaboration with the Bulletin for Libraries began already at that time and since then articles on Hungary for various other Unesco publications have been composed. As of the end of 1956 this activity has been taken over by the newly formed Subcommittee of the National Commission, the Secretariat of the Subcommittee has its seat in the National Library. Three delegates of the Library participated in the Bibliographical Conference in Warsaw in September 1957. The closing chapter of the article enumerates those librarians whose publications had appeared in foreign periodicals. In conclusion several suggestions are made with a view to help improving and developing future collaboration with libraries abroad.