Prékopa Ágnes (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 30. (Budapest, 2016)
In memoriam Eszter Tiszavári
museum’s bibliography, and on several occasions took part as a bibliographer in studies carried out by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA). She compiled a complete collection of all the museum’s catalogues from the past and the present, handling them as protected stock. Her energies even stretched to monitoring and collecting papers and other writings published by her colleagues working at the Museum of Applied Arts. Whoever stepped into the museum library, be they colleague or visitor, would be welcomed with her kind, enthusiastic and lively assistance. In addition to her work for the Museum of Applied Arts library, she pursued a diverse array of related activities. She always advocated closer ties between libraries, and took part in several programmes with this aim in mind. In 2006 she obtained a licence from the Hungarian Library Institute authorising her to participate as an expert consultant in professional library-related activities. Between 2000 and 2008 she served as the national supervisor for museum libraries. She regularly gave presentations about the library and about the work of librarians. She carried out regular monitoring and documentation of subjects for the Institute of Public Opinion in 1987-88, and, after 1990, for the Sociological Research Institute of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. She regularly published articles in the periodical Magyar Iparművészet (Hungarian Applied Arts), mostly about French- and English-language periodicals, in a regular column titled Readers’ Circle. Students from the Szombathely Teacher-Training College and from ELTE who specialised in library studies or library information technology were actively invited to gain practical experience under her care. Eszter’s interests extended to all the other events taking place at the museum, and she always took active part, often contributing her own ideas. In the corridor of the museum library she initiated a series of lacework exhibitions, for which she acted as curator. Thanks to her French cultural connections, she organised an exhibition of photographs. Her rich career, which was interrupted so early despite still having so much to offer, was characterised by extensive interests and constant activity. In 2012, circumstances led her to join the library of the Hungarian Academy of Arts (MMA), where she was soon appointed head of the department. Starting from scratch, she built up the MMA’s reference library in the Vigadó concert hall building in Pest, which will now, in her honour, be renamed the Eszter Tiszavári Library. Eszter passed away on 13 December 2015 at the age of 65, after a long illness. Rest in peace, Eszter, your memory lives on amongst us and within us. Hilda Horváth 158
