AZ ORSZÁGOS SZÉCHÉNYI KÖNYVTÁR ÉVKÖNYVE 1994-1998. Budapest (2000)

I. Az OSZK 1994-1998-ban - Az Országos Széchényi Könyvtár kiadványai 1994-1998 - The Activity of the National Széchényi Library in the Years 1994-1998

The fact that the librarys holdings further increased was due, apart from the occasional ad hoc state support, to a large extent to those who enriched the various collections of the national library with their gifts and legacies. Besides the lack of funds already mentioned, the uncertainty in supply of legal deposit copies also made the acquisitions situation more difficult: because of the price rises, publishers and printing houses sent their publications in fewer copies that required (if they sent any at all) which meant that some of the new Hungarian titles as well as works requested for international exchange had to be purchased from the limited acquisitions budget. The new Legal Deposit Act introduced in 1998 entirely deprived the national library of the two copies it had used for exchange purposes, further aggravating the acquisitions situation. The library succeeded in obtaining foreign books mainly through the international exchange service which has good contacts. The Western partners were very helpful: not only did they meet their obligations, but they also helped the library to develop its collections by donating their own surplus copies and collecting material of Hungarian interest. Some of them adopted the practice of ordering the material they required through the Széchényi Library, giving not only purchase but also conveyance orders, thereby ensuring a modest profit for the library. The help received from Hungarians living in the West was also very important. There was a very substantial decline in exchanges based on reciprocity with Eastern partners since they too were coping with financial difficulties. Western relations were generally maintained and some new ones were even created. Support for Hungarian schools and institutions in the neighbouring countries must naturally be maintained, not only to give them access to publications in Hungarian but also because in exchange they sent printed materials, books and periodicals which we would not have been able to obtain otherwise. We succeeded in solving the problem of keeping records of deposit copies by the end of 1998. As a result, we are able to submit claims for works not received and purchase the necessary additional copies with state support. This represents an improvement. The acquisitions sections continue to work with great dedication, but we still have to count on the help of foreign institutions too. An outstanding contribution to enriching the special collections was the Hungarian records of Radio Free Europe placed at the librarys disposal for copying. All of the special collections obtained numerous legacies and gifts thanks to the state, Hungarian and foreign benefactors. Mention must also be made of the interviews and films given to the Video Collection, enriching the holdings with very important, interesting and novel documents. Processing, catalogues, bibliographic and documentary work In the processing work special emphasis was placed on computerizing the different work processes, creating a uniform network and linking up to the local, national and even world network. Thanks to funds obtained from various sources and grants we were able to purchase the required equipment and carry out the plans through intensive work. As the work progressed we were able to close most of the card catalogues and it became possible to generate the living card catalogues (mainly those of special collections) through the centralized automatic copying of cards. From that point on, all current bibliographic publications are the product of the new technology, whether they appear as booklets or books, on disc or CD-ROM. The library has achieved big results in this area. In 1988 the processing of books meeting the new requirements was done on two conveyor belts in the department: on one the current incoming deposit copies were processed to meet the requirements of the automated system and in a form suitable for the various current bibliographies. This work continued smoothly from 1997 and by the end of 1998 both the current material and the material processed in a preliminary way between 1988 and 1992 had been entered into the NEKTÁR. A change was made on the conveyor belt for foreign books too in that year. A switch had to be made from processing based on old standards to the application of new standards in KATAL, keeping abreast of the material despite the time spent on training and the few computers available. With the introduction in the near future of the AMICUS system, it will be possible to cany out the processing tasks that have been temporarily suspended (e.g. the processing of Hungarica sub-documents.) 188