C. Csapodi, E. Moravek et al.(szerk.): The Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, 1826–1961.

I. The History and Tasks of the Library of the Academy of Sciences

were neither enough manpower nor adequate space for dealing with an increased rate of acquisition. These difficulties became fairly critical during the First World War. In these hard times Kálmán Szilywas the General Secretary. Several library publications are linked with his name at the beginning of his term of office. In 1905, for instance, a list of the periodicals available in the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences was published. In respect to both acquisition and exchange, the war-years resulted in a great regression. The Academy, sponsored by foundations, grew poor. The situation after the war was no more favourable. Inflation hindered the purchase of hooks from abroad and the number of deposit copies received also decreased strongly. Under the direction of Zoltán Ferenczi, the next Chief Librarian, new stack-rooms were added to the Library. This made it possible in 1925 to house in an adequate manner the whole stock, consisting of 262 000 volumes. The Finno-Ugrian scholar József Szinnyei, during his period as Chief Librarian, considered it his main task to process the uncatalogued material. This was all the more necessary because in 1929 the Academy received as a bequest by Count Ferenc Vigyázó not only a very large estate but, for its Library, an extraordinarily valuable collection of books (codices, incunabula, ancient Hungarian books, book rarities in bibliophile bindings.) The Academy first wished to make the Vigyázó estate more profitable by means of investment, so that no money from the estate was spent on the Library's development. Book purchases from abroad between the two world wars were very slight. Deposit copies essentially involved a quantitative growth only, thus merely increasing the existing want of space. The Library also became backward from the technical point of view. During the Second World War the Chief Librarian János Melich, had to concentrate all his energies on saving the stocks. Some valuable parts of the book and manuscript collections were deposited in the air-raid shelter of the Academy's palace, the cave-cellars under Castle Hill, the country shelter of the National Bank as well as the cellars of the National Museum. During the battle for the liberation of Budapest the reading room was closed and library 11