Participation of Hungarian experts in the activities of the Institut International de Biblioaraphie

Abstract

Many sources in the archive of the Institut International de Bibliographie in Bruxelles, in the old files of the Szabó Ervin Municipal Library in Budapest, as well as in various journals and monographs demonstrate that Hungarian experts - first of all Gyula Mandello (1868-1919) and Ervin Szabó (1877-1918) - have actively participated in the work of the IIB.
It is known from an 1897 communication of Paul Otlet, one of the founders of the IIB, that he recelved the basic idea for the modification, acceptance and propagation of the decimal classification of Dewet (later spread all over the world) from the Hungarian Professor Mandello. The objectives of the IIB were very actively supported by Gyula Mandello also in the subsequent years.
Ervin Szabó had close contacts with the Institute and Paul Otlet in 1902-1904 and 1911-1913. He was the first to modify and to improve class 3 Social Sciences of the UDC in a publication in 1902. His corrections were accepted by the IIB, which charged him with the editing of Vol. 1. of the Bibliographia Economica Universalis, published in 1903. Ervin Szabó did pioneer work in introducing UDC in Hungary. Even important foreign institutions - e.g. the "Die Brücke" founded by Wilhelm Ostwald - adapted the UDC under his inspiration. Between 1911 and 1913 Ervin Szabó established olose relations with ÖTLET. At first sharp differences arose between them on the modernization the decimal classification, but later - after personal discussions - Ervin Szabó was charged by the IIB with the radical revision of the class 3.
It is to be hoped that the archive materials, found in Bruxelles this year, will throw light on many further details concerning the relations of Budapest and Bruxelles in the field of documentation.