Library automation in Hungary in a changed environment

Abstract

The development of library automation in Hungary has begun in the '70s. The major obstacle acting against some relatively favourable conditions was the lack of coordination. In the past two years, partially due to the change in the political system, basic changes have taken place in the demands for library services, in the method of financing, in the possibilities to realise a national integrated information system, and in the access to computer equipment (cancellation of COCOM limitations). The major development projects in Hungary, which will probably influence the national information system, include the NEKTÁR project (the automation of the services of National Széchényi Library and of the most important central library services), the OSZKÁR project (the joint efforts of the National Technical Information Centre and Library and of three unversity libraries to create a shared cataloguing system of books), the project of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences to adopt an integrated automated library system (most probably by the implementation of the ALEPH system, after experimenting with the DOBIS-LIBIS system), the projects of university libraries, and the joint project of public libraries (the introduction of the TEXTAR textual database management system as well as the development of the integrated library system TEXTLIB). The conditions for a national library network have been accomplished continuously since 1986 within the framework of the country's Information Infrastructure Development project.