AZ ORSZÁGOS SZÉCHÉNYI KÖNYVTÁR ÉVKÖNYVE 1978. Budapest (1980)

I. Az OSZK 1978-ban - Somkuti Gabriella: Az Országos Széchényi Könyvtár működése 1978-ban - The Activity of the National Széchényi Library in 1978

X of the transitional period, i.e. we could establish the proper scope of the process of entry and the catalogues from a given date. With the help of our experts a new standard of entry has also been elaborated and its obligatory introduction throughout the country can be expected the next year. Special collections went on processing the current incoming material as well as unfolding former parts of the collections in the catalogue (catalogue of Latin codices, catalogue of early printings). As regards the activity of our reference department, their greatest problem continued to be the fact that almost half of our holdings of books, periodicals and newspapers are to be found in depositories outside the building of the library, first of all in the former Royal Palace in Buda, the new head-quarters of the library that is under construction. In this way, the readers have to order the requested material in advance and can get them only within a few days. Out of this comes the grave problem that the physical state of the holdings continues to be worse and worse because of frequent transport. This fact turned the attention of the library's directorate to the question of protection and safety of the holdings. So far as the introduction of inevitable measures needs a longer preparation work, for the time being only a theoretical decision was made to impose restrictions to the use of our holdings. Above all, the library would like to comply with its main tasks, i.e. provide the preservation of the treasury of native documents as well as meet the requirements of research workers. As regards the requirements of other readers we are bound to limit them for a transition period, i.e. till we move to the new building. In the frame of care of the holdings we make continuously efforts for restoration and binding of books but, unfortunately, the capacity is much more limited than we could do with. Concerning restoration work a chemical laboratory with its meanwhile modest equipment will be of great help at introducing new methods. We are continuously making efforts to fulfil the long-time project for microfilming the complete collection of Hungarian newspapers in accordance with our conservation programme, however, the rate of progress has unfortunately become slower because of the bad physical condition of the newspapers to be filmed. In 1978 about 1.5 million newspaper pages were filmed making up 850 thousand negative microfilm frames. In 1978 we put a PENTAKTA machine that makes microfiche into operation and by the end of the year about 100.000 periodical pages were filmed. The library was used by 62.000 readers who used 380.000 units. The number of readers registered has somewhat fallen (12.7 thousand). Bibliographical Work In the field of the automation of library work we can report on the first considerable result: the Hungarian National Bibliography has been produced by machine since April 1978. This computerization was not a mere technical modernization but meant at he same time a reformation in contents and method of the Bibliograqhy. (For instance, besides books the bibliograhpy gives information about current serials and periodical publications of recent outset as well as gives an analytical description of not only scientific works but belletristic publications as well.) In accordance with the international regulations catalogue entries comply with the ISBD system and the transcription of non-Latin letters is done according to the ISO standard. The mechanical processing made a considerable enrichment of the registers possible. The Repertory of Current Periodical Publications that comes out within the system of the Hungarian National Bibliography could solve the problem of time-lag in processing. The permanent increase of the articles to be made an index for (22 thousand a year for the present) makes a reform of this publication necessary. Analytical works began this year with the intention to lay the foundation of a more up-to-date service, with special regard to the relation of this general repertory to the special bibliographies and other types of documentation. After a long interval, the annual Hungarian press bibliography that we missed so much was published at last. The first volume published in 1978 discloses the publications of 1976. The second volume will come out in 1979 continuing to enumerate the material of the year 1976. 6* 83