AZ ORSZÁGOS SZÉCHÉNYI KÖNYVTÁR ÉVKÖNYVE 1971-1972. Budapest (1973)

I. Az OSZK 1970-197l-ben - Papp István: A Könyvtártudományi és Módszertani Központ tevékenysége. 1970—1971 - The Activities of the Centre for Library Science and Methodology

The realization of the proposals and decisions of the conference was started in 1971. Making use of the study mentioned above the county libraries began preparing their long-term plans, here they received intensive help from the Centre. On the basis of the guiding principles for mechanization, worked out earlier, the Centre urged the elaboration of a national plan for mechanization, and in order to facilitate it, it carried out surveys, organized courses, and published informative works. Within the system of cooperation of acquisitions the Centre was ready to give stimulus, to make proposals and to process the common experiences

: it submitted a report on the state of cooperation to the National Council for Libraries and Documentation, published a collection of articles on the Hungarian experiences, and drew up proposals for further progress. The Centre also took an active part in the efforts aiming at working out an information system for the social sciences. In the field of organizing research the Centre did not make much advance, but the plans launched hold out the hope that in the future it will play a greater role in this field, too. Its own researches, however, were going on with promising results, especially in the fields of the sociology of reading and library sociology. They have carried out investigations on the possibility of developing the standard of literary taste, on reading habits, on the relationship of the country intelligentsia and the libraries, and together with the National Pedagogical Library the examination of the reading and library using habits of the teachers has been started. Parallel with that the studies on the supply of specialliterature have been continued, reaching the stage of conclusions in some fields, e. g. law and political science, sociology, etc. It was during this period that the Centre worked out its proposal for a conception of library policy for the trade unions. This was followed by drawing up the requirements for trade union libraries and the guiding principles of their development. This latter was endorsed in 1971 by the Presidium of the Hungarian Trade Union Council and published as its recommendation. There were other efforts, too, to increase the efficiency of library services. With its organizing and publicity experiences the Centre supported various campaigns aiming at the spreading of reading culture and raising its standards. In the second half of 1971 it became involved in the preparations for the International Book Year

: it collected and coordinated the plans of the Hungarian libraries and published the first number of the Hungarian version of the International Book Year Bulletin. The Centre was also active in improving the book supply of the various strata of the reading public, concentrating on meeting the needs of children and young readers. Another important concern was the improvement of library services among the non-Hungarian nationalities of Hungary. The examination of the problems of the academic and high-school libraries was also started. Attention was paid to the questions of local collections, to the position of music collections as well as to many other subjects. The Centre contributed to the decisions on the forms of the training of librarians and held its own courses in librarianship. Many of its publications render help to the libraries, the educative and scientific institutions of the country. The fortnightly Új Könyvek (Latest Books) gives regular advice for acquisitions, while the Eseménynaptár (Calendar of Events) helps library propaganda and the arranging of exhibitions. The information system of the field of librarianship was reorganized in 1969; the last two years saw the consolidation of the periodical publications: Gyorstájékoztató a Magyar Könyvtártudományi Irodalomról (Express Information on Hungarian Publications on Library Science), Könyvtári és Dokumentációs Szakirodalom (Abstracting Journal on Library Science and Documentation), and Könyvtári Figyelő (Library Review). The international relations of the Centre also progressed well and cooperation with foreign partners — especially with those in socialist countries—strengthened and consolidated. This was facilitated by the foreign visits of the members of the staff, and by attending conferences, e. g. the Berlin conference of the library centres of the socialist countries in 1970, the Soviet-Hungarian library seminar held in 1971 in Budapest, the IFLA general meeting in Moscow, etc. Preparing for the 1972 Budapest meeting of IFLA the Centre —in collaboration with the Association of Hungarian Librarians—completed the manuscript of a publication describing Hungarian library affairs in three languages. As it can be seen, the work of the Centre for Library Science and Methodology was of a varied character. It could fulfill its duties only by making use of the cooperative help of other libraries and by seeking the collaboration of experts from outside. 85