Rózsa, George: Some Considerations of the Role of Scientific Libraries in the Age of Scientific and Technical Revolution. An Essay and Approach to the Problem (A MTAK kiadványai 50. Budapest, 1970)
22 should be furthered with all possible means but should not be fetishized or absolutized. Mechanization and the machine itself is a tool, a means capable of increasing the capacity and effectiveness of intellectual work, without being able to substitute for it (e.g. in art and literature). Its mission is to serve as a tool, to promote the development of science, the increase and rationalization of production. Marx explained that "work no longer appears embedded in the productive process, but it forms something in the course of which man acts as the supervisor and regulator of the productive process. (As it is true for machine production, so it applies to the combination of various types of human activities and to the development of human relations, too.)" 1 2 Furthermore, "it is not the direct work done by man himself, nor is it the time during which he works, but the mastery of his опт universal productive force, the fact that he understands and takes possession of nature ... in short, it is the development of the social individual that appears as the pillar of production and economy." Hence the conclusion: "the real richness is nothing but the developed productive force of all individuals. The measure of richness will then be not the working time but tfie free time." In addition to this, Marx's following statement also serves as an approach to the debate on the "two cultures", and also to our immediate problem of the particular role of scientific libraries: "Economy [of ^working time is identical with increasing the free time, that is, with the increase of time necessary to the full development of the individual, which as an immense productive force by itself reacts upon the productive force of work. From the aspect of the direct process of production, this economy of working time may be looked upon as the production of fixed capital; this fixed capital is man himself . . ." "Free time, which is partly leisure time, partly time to realize more sublime activities, naturally changes him who possesses it into a differe7it subject, and this person enters as a different subject in the direct process of production." What is, then, the particular role of the scientific library in realizing this Marxian humanistic perspective? On the one hand, it is expected to promote the process of science and production with all possible means (the possible modes of which is dealt with by a maze of library publications and a wide range of library and documentation services) in order to achieve the maximum free time. This end is served primarily, by the propagation of scientific, technical and economic knowledge, an activity particularly emphasized throughout the world. On the other hand, the scientific library has and will have continuously to propagate the results of the social sciences and humanities, as well as the related documents and literature necessary to the full development of the individual which enrich its emotional world and develop the humane "fixed capital". In this sense, these two kinds of the propagation of knowledge form an organic unit, neither of them having a priority over the other, and their contradiction is only virtual: ultimately both of them are human-centered since real richness is nothing but "the developed productive force of all individuals". However, to achieve this end it is necessary that libraries in the field of the social and humanistic studies should be brought into line with the 1 2 MARX'S drafts on the problems of political economy, first published in Hulshevik (No. 11 — 12, 1939.); the Hungarian translation is based on this text. Other citations are taken from the same sources. (Italics mine: G. R.) — Since no authentic English translation is available, this text is the rough translation of the Hungarian version.
