AZ ORSZÁGOS SZÉCHÉNYI KÖNYVTÁR ÉVKÖNYVE 1974-1975. Budapest (1978)

I. Az OSZK 1974-1975-ben - Somkuti Gabriella: Az Országos Széchényi Könyvtár 1974—1975. évi működése - The Activities of the National Széchényi Library in the years 1974—1975

The presentation of the holdings. Catalogues In addition to processing the incoming new material special care is given to the maintenance of the catalogues. In nearly all the basic catalogues reconstruction is in progress. The aim of the reconstruction is to bring the various layers of the catalogue to level: the material processed in different periods, by different methods, according to different principles should be modernized and unified so that retrieval should be rapid and easy. Since this work cannot be given priority over current processing, it proceeds only slowly and is bound to continue for many years to come. Recataloguing, another activity connected with the older part of the holdings, has been recommenced after a long interval. Here an important decision was made: all the newspapers and periodicals held by the library (at the end of 1974 amounting to about 38 000 titles and 185 000 volumes) are to be recatalogued. At present this great work is at the preparatory stage

; up-to-date methods for processing, new rules, and means for complying with the international standards (ISBD/S) are to be elaborated. The adoption of several international standards and the long-term target of switch • ing over to complex computerization made it imperative to consider and study the reorganization and modernization of the basic processing and information activities of the library. The introduction of the international standard numbering of books and of serial publications raised the problem of the definition and delimination of the various types of documents. (The ISBN system has already been introduced, the adoption of the ISSN system is in preparation.) All that greatly increase the amount of theoretical work to be accomplished, necessitates the introduction of experimental periods, and determine our main tasks for many years to come. In the case of the special collections (the Departments of Manuscripts, Old Books, Music, Maps, Posters and Small Prints, Theatre History) there is no similar progress in the presentation of their material. There the main difficulty lies in the fact that the traditional methods of ensuring the accessibility of the material held are often unable to cope with the increasing amount of new acquisitions. Bibliographical work The current periodic publications describing the printed publications, maps, musical works, and the more important articles of the periodicals of Hungary, which make up the system of the Hungarian National Bibliography, appeared regularly. The timelag in publishing the yearly cumulations increased

: the volume covering the year 1971 is to appear only in 1976. The articles of the Hungarian-language periodicals appearing abroad, and the foreign-language articles relating to Hungary were regularly registered by the two current hungarica bibliographies. The collection and editing of the retrospective bibliographies was advancing well. The collection of data for the period 1601 — 1635 was continued, and fruitful results were achieved by tne searches carried out in the collections in Czechoslovakia and in Yugoslavia. The bibliographical descriptions of the publications which appeared in Hungary between the two world wars are also ready, and their classification is in progress. The most important aspect of bibliographical work continues to be the computerization of the Hungarian National Bibliography. In accordance with the requirements of programming a number of our departmental rules had to be adjusted, modified, or augmented with new instructions. At the end of 1975, side by side with the traditional method, new experimental bibliographic processing was started, conforming with the requirements of electronic data processing. The first machine-produced bibliographies are to come out, however, only in 1976. From 1974 the Library has been able to contribute to the Repertoire International des Sources Musicales (PISM) on a larger scale by presenting the pre-1820 musical documents. Members of our staff started to search all the Hungarian libraries and other collections for this end. We have continuously sent the newest Hungarian material for the International Current Bibliography of the History of the Printed Book and Library. 70