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

At present the Excess Copies Centre holds about 150 000 processed and 800 000 unprocessed volumes. The processing of the latter is in progress and they are offered in lists for those interested in them. In this way in two years the Hungarian libraries augmented their collections with about 80 000 units, while simultaneously they gave up 140 000 excess copies. We have also studied the scheme of establishing a national storage library, worked out its structure and the conditions necessary for its operation. The International Exchange Service distributed most of the material (85 per cent) it received from abroad between the various special libraries. The rest, 15 per cent, was kept by the national library. In the last years the quantity of the material handled by the Exchange Service increased in both directions

: books received and books sent out. The increase in numbers reflects the cultural policy followed by the Exchange Service: we have sent abroad a large number of mainly foreign language works, informing on today's socialist Hungary, and we have given more active support for the various foreign institutions which collect Hungarian material. The Union Catalogue of Foreign Books entered nearly 300 000 new cards in its catalogue, and gave nearly 30 000 informations. In 1975, after 13 years of existence, we ceased to publish the monthly lists based on the new acquisitions reported by the Hungarian libraries (National Acquisition List of Foreign Books). Originally this list was the result of the centralizing trend followed in Hungarian library affairs, but the changing conditions made it redundant. In the future a copy ot the cards reporting the new acquisitions will be sent to the respective special libraries, who will make use of that to widen their information basis (e.g. union catalogues or acquisition lists in various special fields). The libraries taking part in that cooperation gave written assurances that they would use these cards for this end. The national library will continue to publish a periodical list of works of reference in the social sciences acquired by the various Hungarian libraries. The Union Catalogue of Foreign Periodicals registered about 170 000 new data, and gave 18 000 informations. Work on a retrospective location list of foreign periodicals to be found in Hungarian libraries (17th century up to 1970) has made considerable progress. A pre-print of the planned publication was prepared and circulated among the libraries covered for the verification of the data. The above department is also in charge of transmitting the data of the Hungarian serial publications to the international registering centres, to the Centre International d'Enregistrement des Publications en Serie, Paris, and to the ASRPI in Moscow. We have also took an active part in the theoretical work performed by these two centres. The Inter-Library Loan Service, which in foreign transactions acts as the national centre, handles about 24 — 25 000 requests on yearly average. Foreign material was sent in the largest number by the Federal Republic of Germany, the Soviet Union, Britain, Sweden, and France, in that order. (62 per cent of the documents arrived in the form of copies.) We have sent documents in the largest number to Czechoslovakia, the Federal Republic of Germany, the United States, the Soviet Union, France, Roumania, Yugoslavia, and Austria, in that order. International relations In the field of international relations the period 1974—75 was characterized by dynamic growth in cooperation between the socialist countries. This closer cooperation took various forms

: in the field of documentation and information supply it was represented by the common information system (International Scientific and Technological Information System), while the special problems of the national libraries were tackled by the regular meetings of the heads as well as of the various experts of these libraries. Members of our staff were especially active in the questions of standardization, and also in the registration service of the serials (ASRPI). One representativ from our Library could attend the 1975 congress of the IFLA held in Oslo. We maintained close contact also with AIBM, although we were unable to attend its conferences during the period covered. 72