AZ ORSZÁGOS SZÉCHÉNYI KÖNYVTÁR ÉVKÖNYVE 1965-1966. Budapest (1967)

I. A könyvtár életéből - Gombocz István: Az Országos Széchényi Könyvtár külföldi kapcsolatai 1963—1966 - Foreign relations of the National Széchényi Library in the years 1963—1966

the material which arrived under our agreements for the exchange of current or surplus books and periodicals, as well as the addressed packages sent in cases by foreign exchange centers,. were distributed among 120 Hungarian libraries and consignees. The Service has also kept a nationwide register of the exchanges maintained by about 210 Hungarian libraries with about 18 000 institutions abroad. During the said period the Inter-Library Loan Service received about 80 000 requests, which could be fulfilled in about 90%. This service performs an important task by acquiring from abroad in the form of originals or reproductions those articles, reports, etc. which are urgently needed by Hungarian scientists or research workers of industrial firms. The Service closely collaborated with the Union Catalogue. The Service maintained regular relations with altogether 40 countries which on their part showed increasing interest to get Hungarian scientific publications by loan. Exchange of persons During the years 1963—1966 a continuously increasing interest could be noticed on the part of the readers and research workers coming from abroad and using the holdings of the Library. Some scholars from the United States, Czechoslovakia, Netherlands spent many months in the Library consulting different parts of the collections. In the main reading rooms and especially in the reading rooms of the special collections hundreds of foreign readers consulted the materials. Most of them came from the neighbouring countries but we had many visitors from other European, American and Asian countries as well. The greatest interest was shown for the collections of the Manuscript Department and those of the Music Division (manuscripts of Haydn, etc.) Other visitors studied the functioning of the various services of the Library itself. Collaborators of the Library visited in increasing degree other libraries of Europe. In the frame of cultural agreements some of the leading librarians could study once more the libraries of the Soviet Union, German Democratic Republic, Italy and Yugoslavia. Many other collaborators travelled in various countries of Western Europe where they visited the most important libraries. On the research tours many old Hungarian material could be identified mainly in the neighbouring countries, Italy, Austria, etc. International organizations and conferences The international co-operation in library work in general was assured mainly by the Centre for Library Science and Methodology, the international activity of which, though belonging to the organization of the National Library, is not reported here. The Library itself js the member of only one organization

: International Association of Musical Libraries. One of our collaborators participated on the Association's conference in -Dijon. During the whole period the Music Division continued to compile the Hungarian bibliographical contribution to the work in progress at the IAML. Through the intermediary of the Association of Hungarian Librarians, the collaborators of the National Library participated much more actively as in the past in the work of the International Federation of Library Associations. Three delegates attended the Rome meeting of 1964 and three again the meeting of 1966 held in Scheveningen, Holland. Two of the National Library's service heads were elected secretaries of IFLA committees (library building and international exchange). Contacts with the library activity of the Unesco were upheld during the period. In 1963 the Deputy Director General studied the work and functioning of libraries in 6 West-European countries with a Unesco scholarship. The Library received as depository the publications of Unesco, helped to issue their selected bibliographies published in Hungary and supplied Hungarian informations for the purposes of various Unesco piiblications. In autumn 1963 the Technical Committee on Documentation of the International Organization of Standardization held its meeting in Budapest. At this conference the members of the National Library took an active part. 76