AZ ORSZÁGOS SZÉCHÉNYI KÖNYVTÁR ÉVKÖNYVE 1986-1990. Budapest (1994)

I. Az OSZK 1986-1990-ben - Az Országos Széchényi Könyvtár működése 1986-1990-ben - The Activity of the National Széchényi Library in the Years 1986-1990

the world were readily placed at our disposal by the libraries, enabling us to assemble the largest collection (131 volumes) of treasures from the library of King Matthias ever seen together since 1526. The success of the exhibition is reflected in the fact that it attracted more than 200,000 visitors. The exhibitions held covered a wide range of subjects. The library made efforts to present its own treasures, holding commemorative exhibitions on the work of outstanding individual librarians and it also covered aspects of Hungarian literature and history. It placed great emphasis on introducing the works of Hungarian artists living in Hungary and abroad (drawings, engravings, paintings, etc.), and it also organized exhibitions on foreign artists and the development of different cultures. Some of the exhibitions also travelled abroad and we organized Hungarian book exhibitions in other countries, including Albania, Belgium and Moscow. The library itself can be regarded as a special form of exhibition since it operates in the former royal palace and received numerous groups for visits each year. In 1986 more than 560 groups were received, including at least a hundred foreign groups in that year and each of the following years, who came to admire the beauty of our building and the treasures of our collection. There were very large numbers of Hungarian visitors too. In the town of Zirc located in the Bakony Mountains, there is a historic library in the former Cistercian Abbey. This collection is attached to our library and attracted 55,000—75,000 visitors a year. The beautiful library rooms in the Baroque building impress visitors with the value and richness of the collection they house and also with their famous inlaid furnishings. Researchers also visited the collection, giving life to this historical collection by using the volumes. Hungarian and international professional relations As a consequence of its central position, its national coverage and functions, the library maintained continuous relations with related institutions in Hungary, took part in solving problems of Hungarian library affairs and at the same time informed professional circles on its own activity. It is now impossible to give a full picture of its international relations since these cover practically the whole world, partly in individual form and partly as organized relations. Although cooperation with the former CMEA countries completely ended by the end of 1990, the library took part in the work carried out up to that time. In contrast, the western relations became steadily wider and more intensive, guided among others by the efforts to modernize the library. Numerous references have already been made to these. Activity related to the ISDS IC was continued in the same way as in the past. Our relations were strengthened when our colleague Judith Szilvássy served for a year as acting director of the international centre and also by the fact that in 1990 the Hungarian centre tested the OSIRIS program and gave an opinion on it for the guiding body mentioned. We carried out our tasks undertaken under the NPAC program of the Washington Library of Congress. We continued to provide data for the Bibliography of the History of Printed Books and Libraries project and for the RISM (Repertoire des Sources Musicales). We successfully joined in the work of the SB3MAS (Société Internationale des Bibliothéques et Musées des Arts du Spectacle). From 1988 the secretariat of the Hungarian National Committee of the FID has operated in our library. From 1989 we joined IFLA, in the national library and stock protection-conservation section. Our staff members also took part individually in the work of foreign scholarly organizations, associations and societies. We are unable to report on this here. Mention should be made, however, of the international events we organized: the coordination pre-conference of the IFLA, the consultation and meeting of the Director's meeting of ISDS centres, the meeting of the FID presidency, a seminar of Hungarian and Finnish experts on retrospective national bibliographical methods, a meeting of participants in the work on the RISM, and an international conference on book and paper restoration organized by the National Széchényi Library and the Restorers Section of the Technical Association of the Paper and Printing Industry. Naturally, this üst too is far from complete. 86