Fekete Gézáné (szerk.): Évszázadok kultúrája az Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Könyvtárában.

Foreword

CENTURIES OF LEARNING IN THE LIBRARY OF THE HUNGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES This illustrated album is published for the occasion of the inauguration of the new building of the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Siences. On the path leading from the foundation of the Telekis towards the library of the 21st century, the establishment of its own library building represents a turning point for the Library of the Academy. The foundation deed by Count József Teleki, dated 1826, intended the library "for the use of every citizen". Today's Academy and present day Hungarian cultural policy echo that initiative from a distance of one century and a half with this library building, too. The oldest—and until 1945—the only scientific insitute of the Academy, the library and its parent institution are the depositories of the continuity of Hungarian science and culture, and of their international presence. The international exchange of publications, which was started in 1833, also served the purpose of presenting the Academy abroad. In recent decades the contacts of the Library were further extended and became richer by representing the Academy in international library and information programmes, including computerization. The stock of nearly two million "information units" cover centuries of world culture in the shape of manuscripts, incunables, old and rare books, scientific monographs and periodicals, microfiches and magnetic tapes. Our album presents a selection of these. A contemporary newspaper "Jelenkor" wrote about the opening of the Library on December 23, 1844: "In this respect the opening of the Library of the Hungarian Academy was a day of genuine joy to us ...". The first stage in the career of the Library coincided with the efforts of the reform period, and the establishment of the new library building with that of today's reform period. Paying homage to the founders, to the donors of great collections and to the outstanding librarians of the Academy in the past, the Library of the Academy is ready to build on good traditions, to continue acquiring works of world culture, to prepare for continuous renewal, in other words to write new pages of its history in its new building. Budapest, 1988. dr. György Rózsa Director General