Machine-procuced library publications in the Hungarian Central Technical Library and Documentation Centre (OMKDK)

Abstract

Pursuing the directives issued in the early sixties for the mechanization of library processes, from among the tasks to be solved – but presently still difficult to be solved – , the machine-based production of textual publications, and as a by-product, that of inventories, book-format catalogues, lists of new accessions has proved to be most feasible. Thus in 1961-1962, the classified (in UDC) and alphabetical book-format catalog of the so-called educational material – i.e. lecture notes of universities and other higher educational institutions, as well as those of extension training courses –, showing a certain uniformity as regards their content and formal elements, was produced by punched card machine in the form of commission work. Relying on experiences gained in the first undertaking, the processing of publications of ephemeral value (price lists, prospectuses and the like) were in short time included in the system. These works have been going on ever since – with a continuously developing technology, though. From 1967 OMKDK produced these catalogs by its own punched-tape typewriters, while since 1970 they have been produced by computer with punched-tape as input. The processing of the input was carried out by the MINSK 22 computer park of the Szeged University as commission work. The final print-out from the punched-tape produced as computer output is also carried out in the OMKDK.
The present machine-park of the OMKDK has had to be developed with regard to several factors such as costs, possibilities of accommodation, staff problems and the like. Presently, the in-house machine-park consists of the following units: 12 punched-tape typewriters, 2 special IBM punched card device for producing texts, and an IBM Composer System. At the domestic level, the first such publications represented the first step forward in this field by which the resistance of the conservative library conceptions sticking to rigid formal prescriptions was successfully broken. It became obvious that the machine-produced publications – their index systems in the first place – facilitate the processing, in depth, of certain parts of the holdings. The elaboration of the producing method of several types of indexes was, then, started. Of the various systems, the selection of the most suitable one was made on the basis of the type of documents processed and the nature of the publication.
On the more significant parts of collections held by the OMKDK the following publications are produced by machine:
1. Catalog of R+D reports
a/ KWIC-system index of the subject of reports;
b/ list of the numbers of reports with reference to the OMKDK call number;
c/ list of institutions;
d/ index of authors;
e/ bibliographical part – in the order of call numbers
2. Bibliography of congress papers – a traditional bibliography in UDC system with a machine-produced index
3. Special bibliographies – with special subject grouping and KWOC index, otherwise traditional bibliographies
4. Book-format catalogs of periodicals
a/ periodicals held by the OMKDK
b/ union title list of periodicals by special fields
5. Quick index series – KWIC-system rapid information on the recent periodical articles of four subject fields.
The OMKDK will go on the way of mechanization. Besides further developing the on-going undertakings, it makes preparations also for solving new tasks in this fields.