Conference on Computers in Hungarian University Libraries '91 (Miskolc, 27-28 August 1991)

Abstract

The present issue of TMT publishes the full proceedings of the Conference. The reason of the meeting was twofold. First, the case of the reform of the library and bibliographic information system in Hungary has become an acute problem to be solved in the near future, together with that of the substantial expansion of the regional and national role of libraries in higher education institutions, especially of university libraries. The second reason was that the outlook to meet the challenge of information requirements at the turn of the century both technically and technologically by this outstanding group of libraries had become better, based on efforts by Hungarian institutions and on World Bank credits. The Conference was opened by Mrs. H. Huszár, general director of the Central Library of the Budapest Economics University, as the chairman of the Conference. Professor Á. Csurgay, deputy general secretary of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, in his presentation titled New Informatics Techniques in Bibliographic Information Services, spoke about the latest achievements in electronic telecommunications and computer technology, described the operation of INTERNET network and its subsystems, and presented Hungarian efforts in the realization of the Information Infrastructure Development Project (IIF) from 1986 onwards with the aim to reduce and possibly eliminate the gap of the country's position in advanced information and telecommunications technology. (From 1991, the IIF project has gained a new impetus by supports from the IMF and the European Community.) Dr. J. Zsidai, the general director of the Central Library of the Miskolc Technical University, held the leading lecture in professional terms of the meet ng, titled Computers and University Libraries. The speaker analysed systematically, following a brief historical overview, the main results and deficiencies of computer applications in Hungarian libraries. He urged, first of all, the development of national databases and online union catalogues, as the next development stage. It would be desirable to establish a fully operatlonal reference system, at least in one major library of the country. The author enumerated carefully the organisational, objective and personnel conditions, financial problems, and desired directions (toward the European Common Market) of our professional orientation that he found as inevitable for our development. Finally, he ad dressed the role of university libraries in this process. In the plenary discussion, nine comments were presented, and the discusslons of the three sessions were equally active. The results of the two-day meeting were summarised by the accepted recommendations. The participants of the Conference found necessary and essential to establish an Information system in Hungary based on principal scientific libraries. Some issues of this project would be to create and operate national databases, to realize their electronic access, to build internal tocal area networks in major libraries, to be able to access international electronic networks, to make regional and subject field oriented cooperation within the country more effective, connection to university computer and telecommunications network, establishment of expert commission and/or the participation of university libraries in existing commissions. An additional demand stressed in the recommendetions is that these developments should be realized through government responsibilities and national budget financing.