AZ ORSZÁGOS SZÉCHÉNYI KÖNYVTÁR ÉVKÖNYVE 1960. Budapest (1962)

IV. Könyvtár- és művelődéstörténeti tanulmányok - Summaries

Bibliographical work The Hungarian National Bibliography and the Repertory of Hungarian Periodicals were published regularly, though some slight delays could not be avoided. Arrangements, were made to improve techniques in order to enable the Library to publisch these important bibliographical tools in due time. Simultaneously the work of editing the retrospective cumulative national bibliographies of books and periodicals was continued. The Manuscript Division devoted much time to the Union Catalogue of Hungarian manuscripts. The new publication in 1969 entitled „Bibliography of Hungarian Bibliographies, 1956—57" proved to be a success both at home and abroad. The Music Division compiled the Hungarian contribution to the „Repertoire International des Sources Musicales". Header and Reference Service The total number of readers (visitors) was 86,258 in 1960, a figure 8% in excess over 1959. The bibliographical units used amounted only to 585,561, 9% less than in the previous, year. Not rarely readers formed a queue in front of the entrance to the main reading-room. Numerous researchers, scientists, etc., visited the Special Collections. 76 important bibliographical informations were compiled, 42 out of this number upon demand from abroad. The Reader and Reference Service organized several minor exhibitions to commemorate outstanding anniversaries. Mediaeval manuscripts, old and rare books, Hungarian linguistic monuments were constantly exhibited by the Manuscript Division that registered 108 visitors during the year. The Music Division contributed to the success of celebrating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Hungary's great composer, Ferenc Erkel. The museum-type libraries in the country were visited by numerous tourists

; 44,200 persons were counted alone at Keszthely. Storage, preservation of stock, microrecording The shortage of space could be mitigated only slightly by a regrouping of materialsFor the purpose of the future removal of the stocks to the new building, a new storage system was elaborated. The collection of death-announcements, theatrical posters and ex-libris labels was rearranged. The volume of binding and repair proved to be insufficient also in 1960. The photo-laboratory of the Library worked at a good pace

; it continued the microrecording work of the Libray's valuable and rare materials and, at the same time, fulfilled the demands for microfilms coming from outside. Inter-library services The Book Distributing Division distributed almost 100,000 volumes of surplus material among 222 Hungarian libraries. The Division was also charged with supervising materials prior to their pulping for industrial purposes. The outlines of a Hungarian storage centre were elaborated. The Inter-library Loan Service handled altogether 12,000 demands submitted to it from Hungary and abroad. 93,4% of (the) loan requests could be complied with. The Copyright Deposit Service supplied 124,520 books, periodicals, small-prints to the Library and distributed 650,000 items among other Hungarian libraries. A new decree was promulgated in 1960 regulating pending questions in this field. The reorganization of the Union Catalogue Service was continued, some of the backlog was liquidated. Important progress was achieved in compiling the Union List of Foreign Periodicals. A plan was elaborated to publish a National List of New Acquisitions from Abroad in 1961. The Hungarian Service of International Exchange forwarded 20,375 books and 1,000 volumes of periodicals to its 400 foreign partners and received 19,073 books and 1,507 volumes of periodicals in exchange. The same service distributed 4,154 parcels coming from abroad. The Service was also responsible for the organizing of the Conference on the International Exchange of Publications in Europe, sponsored and partly financed by Unesco. The foreign relations of the Library were equally taken care of by this division. Centre for Methodology and Library Science The Division of Library Sziznsz made considerable progress in organizing Hungarian research work. A new large-scale research plan was elaborated, based on a nation-widesurvey. In the autumn of 1960 a library science conference was organized by the Centre. 336