We would like to inform our readers that our library will be closed from 1 August 2026 to 5 September 2026.

Starting 9 July 2026, the due dates for borrowed items will be in September.

Important: If an item’s due date is before 1 August 2026, the closure period will be included when calculating late fees.

During the summer break, you can return books in person on weekdays between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. using the smart shelf located in the lobby, or by mail (1053 Budapest, Ferenciek tere 6.). Returns made via the smart bookshelf are processed immediately, while books returned by post are checked in on the business day they are received. Any overdue fees that may be incurred can be paid online by bank card or in person after the summer break.

Starting 7 September 2026, our library will welcome readers during its regular opening hours.

We wish all our readers a pleasant summer and a restful holiday!

The ELTE University Library and Archives places special emphasis on students’ mental health, which is why well-trained, friendly therapy dogs visit our library during exam season to help reduce stress and boost well-being.

During exam periods, stress and anxiety levels rise among our students, so our goal is to provide them with emotional support during this time. We believe that the presence of therapy dogs not only supports mental health but also enriches students’ learning experience.

During the sessions, therapy dogs and their handlers from the “Dogs for People” Foundation and the “A Smile with a Dog” Foundation are available to students, providing a safe and supportive environment.

The impact is guaranteed; these four-legged helpers can be visited in the common area without prior registration during the times indicated on the reading room displays. 

Expected dates:

We would like to inform our readers that we will be performing system maintenance over the three-day long weekend. As a result, the ELTE Library WebApp will be unavailable from the evening of 30 April 2026 until approximately 6:00 a.m. on 4 May 2026.

During the maintenance, the online catalog will remain operational, however, users will not be able to log in, so reader services (e.g., renewals, reservations, online requests) will not be available.

Thank you for your understanding.

According to our tradition, we will join the Night of Museums on the 20th of June 2026. From 3 p.m. in the afternoon until midnight, our library welcomes all visitors with craft activities, fire enamelling and calligraphy workshops, animated film screenings, adventure tours, recipe collections, concerts, building tours, guided tours and restoration workshops. Tickets will be available at the entrance from the 1st of June 2026.

Our bookbinding workshop and calligraphy workshop, as well as culinary adventure tours will welcome visitors of all ages starting at 3:00 p.m. this year. Our chamber exhibition, opening on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, presents the documents and careers of three outstanding scholars, Ferenc Toldy, Sándor Szilágyi, and Loránd Eötvös, who played an important role in the history of the University, the University Library, and the Academy.

Our evening program series will open at 6:00 p.m. with a concert by the string quartet of the ELTE “Eötvös” Art Ensemble. 

On our library tours in English and Hungarian, visitors can learn about the history of the Library Palace and the Perczel Globe, and get a glimpse into our historic collection storage and behind the scenes of the library. Led by our restorer, they can get a taste of paper-making and bookbinding techniques, as well as the process of book disinfection and old bookbinding methods.

We will enhance the nighttime stroll with a concert by guitarist Béla Rák starting at 8:30 p.m., as well as a screening of Ferenc Rofusz’s adaptation of The Last Supper and all of his animated short films, beginning at 8:00 p.m., guided by the Kossuth and Oscar-winning Hungarian animation director.

Our guests can decorate their own handmade bookmarks, participate in our quiz titled Secrets of Feasts: Culinary Adventures in the Kitchens of Yesteryear, for small prizes, and use our library jigsaw puzzle to build our library palace and reassemble our codex pages, our culinary photos – as well as Mór Jókai’s “scenes from life” – from their fragments.

The doors of the enamel workshop will also open, where our visitors can create unique souvenirs.

In line with this year’s featured theme, Stories Captured in Flavors, we are compiling a collection of recipes. Anyone can submit their favorite recipe by filling out the form available on our website. The collection will remain accessible after the event and can be continuously expanded.

For more information, please visit our website or the Night of Museums’ homepage. A detailed program is available here.

All visitors are welcome!

Photo, audio and video recordings will be made of the events. The recordings will be published on the websites, publications, forums and social media of the participating institutions.

The ELTE University Library and Archives will be closed on the 1st and 2nd of May 2026.

From Monday (4 May 2026) readers are welcome to visit us for extended opening hours.

We wish you a happy holiday weekend!

The ELTE University Library and Archives offers extended opening hours in the Great Reading  Hall and in the community space for readers and students between the 4th of May 2026 and the 13th of June 2026, staying open until 10:00 p.m. on weekdays and Saturdays. Our community space offers the opportunity to learn, relax, use kitchen facilities and free computer access. The self-service facilities in the lobby will continue to be available with a valid library card on weekdays from 7:00 a.m. and on Saturdays from 8:00 a.m.

Through our constantly expanding services, we aim to provide ELTE students with an efficient and effective learning opportunity, with the support of the Students' Union and in cooperation with the students.

The following services are available between 8:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. on weekdays and between 6:00 p.m. and 10:00 p.m. on Saturdays:

• study and reading in the Great Reading Hall, use of computers in the ground-floor community room, access to kitchen equipment (fridge, microwave, hot and cold water and soda dispenser) in the community kitchen,
• picking up books requested online during the day from the pick-up locker and borrowing them through the self-lending terminal
• returning books using the smart shelf,
• self-service printing and photocopying using a pre-purchased or online bought card,
• free self-service scanning.

During the extended opening hours (Mon–Fri: 8:00–10:00 p.m., Sat: 6:00–10:00 p.m.), reception and general information is provided. The lobby, the Great Reading Hall and the community space may only be visited with a pre-purchased library card.

Everyone is warmly welcome and we wish all our students a successful end of the semester and exam period!

The ELTE–NFI FILMIO University Film Club screening and discussion series continues. We welcome university members from all ELTE faculties.

A documentary film about mathematician János Neumann – who, in addition to his theoretical research in quantum mechanics, became known for laying the theoretical foundations of the digital computer – was produced with the academic and professional support of ELTE.

János Neumann was the first to compare the computer to the functioning of the human brain, and he recognized earlier than anyone else that mathematics, armed with the computer, could change the world. Viewers can get to know one of the most influential, world-renowned Hungarian scientists of the 20th century through the recollections of his daughter and fellow scientists.

The film not only showcases his extraordinary scientific work but also brings his unique human character closer to the viewer. Against the backdrop of Neumann’s life, an entire era unfolds: World War I, the global economic crisis of the 1920s, the rise of Nazism, the persecution of Jews, the devastation of World War II, and then the arms race and the Cold War era.

Date: 22 April 2026, 6:00 p.m.

Venue: ELTE University Library and Archives, Community Space (1053 Budapest, 6 Ferenciek Square, ground floor)

Our guests for the post-screening discussion are: Lívia Bertha, the film’s director; Gyula Dávid, a physicist (Department of Nuclear Physics, ELTE Faculty of Science); and Áron Badinszky, the rector’s representative, who assisted in the film’s production on behalf of ELTE.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/1031969259?fl=pl&fe=vl  

Due to limited seating, advance registration is required.

The organisers welcome any correspondence regarding the film club at eltenfi.filmklub@elte.hu.

ELTE–NFI Film Club Facebook page

With the support of the ELTE University Film Club, the National Cultural Fund (NKA), and the Hungarian Documentary Filmmakers’ Association (MADOKE), we are launching a documentary film series featuring works by Hungarian filmmakers. The next screening will feature Márton Vizkelety’s 2025 film My Chemical Information System. All interested parties are warmly invited to attend the event.

Date: Tuesday, May 12, 6:00 p.m.

Venue: ELTE University Square Campus, Weiss Emilia Hall (1053 Budapest, Egyetem tér 1–3., ground floor, in the hallway next to the coat check)

“What is life? A chemical information system,” declares Hungarian-born scientist Gyula Dékány, whose conviction has led to groundbreaking discoveries. For more than two decades, he has divided his time between Europe and Australia, dedicating himself to scientific breakthroughs 16,000 kilometers away from his family. He has already helped millions of infants through the synthesis of breast milk sugars, and while he is currently working on creating compounds that could cure Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s, he faces a new challenge: striking a balance between his pursuit of scientific innovation and his longing for home. Is life really just a chemical information system, or is it something deeper? My Chemical Information System is a story of the inner struggle between discovery and human relationships.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/1070997352

Our guests for the post-screening discussion will be Márton Vízkelety, the film’s director and cinematographer, and Julianna Ugrin, the film’s producer.

Márton Vízkelety graduated from the University of Theatre and Film Arts in 2007 as a cinematographer. In 2009, he participated in the Berlinale Talent Campus. He has been involved in several international documentary film projects, including Alexey Rodionov’s MasterClass in Moscow in 2013. His documentaries and short films have been screened at film festivals such as Tribeca, the Sarajevo International Film Festival, Dox in Zagreb, DOK Leipzig and the Vladivostok International Film Festival. Together with Ugrin, he co-directed the multi-award-winning film The Decision (2022).

Julianna Ugrin excels at making astute decisions about which productions her production company, Éclipse Film, will finance. (In 2017, her film A Woman in Captivity became the first Hungarian feature-length documentary to be selected for the competition program at the Sundance Film Festival.) She began working in the film industry in 2008 and later completed EURODOC, a training and development workshop for documentary producers. In 2011, she founded her own film production company, Éclipse Film. She has presented her film projects at numerous international markets and pitching forums, and her completed films have screened at or won awards at festivals such as IDFA, the Sarajevo IFF, DOK Leipzig and HotDocs.

Seating is limited, so please register in advance by email.

We would like to inform our readers that we will be performing system maintenance over the Easter long weekend. As a result, the ELTE Library WebApp will be unavailable from 10:00 PM on 2 April  2026, until approximately 6:00 AM on 7 April 2026.

During the maintenance, the online catalog will remain operational; however, users will not be able to log in, so reader services (e.g., renewals, reservations, online requests) will not be available.

Thank you for your understanding!

During the Easter holidays, between the 3rd and the 6th of April 2026, the ELTE University Library and Archives is closed.

From the 7th of April 2026, we are open with our full range of services.

We wish you a happy and blessed Easter!