Domsa Károlyné, Fekete Gézáné, Kovács Mária (szerk.): Gondolatok a könyvtárban / Thoughts in the Library (A MTAK közleményei 30. Budapest, 1992)

KÖNYVTÁR ÉS KORSZERŰSÉG – LIBRARY AND MODERNITY

L. Kiuzadjan representation between East and West within the Board of Directors, states in a more defined way the aims of the Centre, the decision-making process and its organisation. It is targeted at more efficient work of the Council (the present Board), the permanent staff and the Director. The role and position of the scientific staff members - Senior Researchers and Junior Research Assistants - is defined clearly and a stimulating mandate is given to the staff by facilitating their activities. It is an advantage when good conditions of partnership can be created between the organisations involved; it brings active feedback from the NFA-s, the Centre and associated organisations, and a readiness to support the relative autonomy of the Vienna Centre and its staff. For its part, the Centre should give adequate information and present well-documented plans to its partners, taking into account their interests and needs. Particularities of the Vienna Centre A European Dimension Europe is a region on the map of the world. For many people it is both a cultural and historical concept. The geographical meaning determines which countries' NFA-s contribute to the work of the Vienna Centre, and where participants in projects and programmes come from. As a concept, Europe is regarded differently in different places. For the Vienna Centre both aspects of Europe are important: it should study the different concepts of Europe, and this means that the Centre is directly involved with the European ideal as one of its most important scientific tasks. Given a self-critical approach, this commitment can be a fruitful basis. East-West Cooperation The original task of the Vienna Centre was to encourage East-West cooperation in the social sciences. This has two important advantages under the changed circumstances of Central and Eastern Europe. The first is that the experience and contacts of the Vienna Centre in Eastern Europe can help the quickly growing need for contacts and interchange in the social science communities of Central 156 Thoughts in the library "