Gáncsné Nagy Erzsébet: Magyar Könyvtárosok Egyesülete Helyismereti Könyvtárosok Szervezetének története, 1994-2002 (2004)
3. The Local Studies Group of the Association of Hungarian Librarians (HKSZ). - 3.8. International co-operation: the Hungarian Local Studies Group and the UK Local Studies Group.
were awarded honorary life membership of the UK Local Studies Group for their work in promoting the international Accord. 115 . In July 1998 Diana Dixon was the guest of the Hungarian Group at the fifth annual HKSZ Conference in Kiskunhalas - Kalocsa. She contributed a paper on Church libraries - the British experience to the Conference programme. Elizabeth Melrose, now chairman of the British Group committee, also attended the Conference in a private capacity and, together, she and Diana Dixon were guided round Budapest, Kecskemét, Kiskunhalas, Kalocsa, Vác and Győr. 116 That autumn, September 1998, Erzsébet Gáncs and Elizabeth Melrose worked on a joint bid for funding at the invitation of the Hungarian Scholarship Board and the British Council, under the Hungarian-British Joint Academic and Research programme 1999/2002. The written bid was designed to set up the 'USER' Project (United Service for European Researchers) which aimed to extend co-operation between local studies librarians and archivists in the UK and Hungary through an exchange of current expertise and practice. It was to involve a selected network of enthusiastic librarians, who would promote the comparative study of local history and simplify access to the recorded heritage of both countries through advances in all areas of ICT. A user survey of customer needs was to be carried out in twelve community libraries and this feedback was to inform British and Hungarian local studies collection policies alongside the compilation of a user guide for local historians in Hungary to be published in Hungarian, German and English. A website was to be established comparing the diversity of the available source material for local studies research. Unfortunately the Hungarian Scholarship Board did not support the bid, but all was not lost - the Hungarian Group decided to continue with the user survey and the results of this exercise are included in the chapter on the national surveys conducted by the Group. In November 1998 the UK Local Studies Group Committee reviewed the Letter of Accord and reiterated the principles of co-operation based on the original agreement. Discussions took place about future progress. One recommendation added to the list was the establishment of an email-list for British and Hungarian librarians. Joint translation programmes of relevant journal articles were to be encouraged and more librarian exchanges were to be organised as funds permitted. The Chairman of the UK Group hoped that collaboration might be extended to cover librarians in the Hungarian Diaspora, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania and Croatia. At their annual review 1999 of the joint collaboration the ní Tanulmányút a Big Ben tornya alatt / Mennyeiné Várszegi Judit. In: Kisalföldi könyvtáros, 1998. l.sz. p. 67-76. 116 Hungary again / Diana Dixon. In: Local Studies Librarian, 17 (2), 1998. p. 16-17. 76
