ELTE has been granted a 3-month trial access to the Books of Modern China (1840–1949) database on Shanghai Library's CNBKSY (Quan Guo Bao Kan Suo Yin) platform. The database contains over 120,000 books, which can be searched in full text.

Access period: December 1, 2023 – March 1, 2024

The database is accessible from the entire IP range of the University (from home via VPN):

CNBKSY – Books of Modern China (1840–1949)

Leaflet and manual for the database.

Source

Obejct of the month – Sándor Szilágyi commemorative medal

The image on the obverse shows the bust of an elderly man with a beard and mustache looking to the left. Under the image of the medal is the name of the artist (Anton Scharff), on the left side inscription: „AET LXX”.

The image on the reverse is divided horizontally. In the upper field, three figures can be seen between books and a globe. On the left side of the field, there are names related to Sándor Szilágyi’s historical activities: „BÁTHORY / BETHLEN / RÁKÓCZY”. In the lower field the building of the University Library can be seen, above the coat of arms of the Eötvös Loránd University (then Budapest University) and the mint mark of Kremnica. Inscription on the left side of the field: „RERUM HUNGARICARUM AC TRANSSYLVANICARUM INDIGATORI INDEFESSO 1897”.

Bronze commemorative medal made on the occasion of the 70th birthday of the historian Sándor Szilágyi (1927–1899). The medal was presented by the admirers at the meeting of the Hungarian Historical Society on the 21st of June 1897. During his research activities, Sándor Szilágyi worked on early modern Hungarian and Transylvanian topics, from 1878 until his death he was the director of the University Library of Eötvös Loránd University (then Budapest University).

The European Cultural Foundation (ECF) is supporting the ELTE University Library and Archives' Book of Your Life (BoYL) project with 10,000 euros, the highest amount available in the Libraries, Communities and Democracy call for 2024. The primary aim of the project is to support the integration of international students coming to ELTE by creating community spaces and organising multilingual thematic activities. 

In line with ELTE's internationalisation strategy, the project will focus on promoting multiculturalism and supporting the mental well-being of students, given that an increasing number of international students from more than 100 countries are coming from global conflict zones.

The student community space in the Ferenciek tere library palace is planned to host interactive lectures, book exchanges, book clubs and pop-up exhibitions. The experience gained from the pilot project will be multiplied by ELTE for both national and international partners.

The Book of Your Life project aims to strengthen the strategic role of university libraries as facilitators of international cultural relations, as safe spaces and as promoters of the cultural heritage they preserve and care for.

The project will be implemented jointly by the ELTE University Library and Archives, the ELTE, the International Strategy Office and the University Strategy Office between January and September 2024, in line with the CHARM-EU Alliance Inclusion Plan.

More details are available on the ELTE website.

On the 31st of August 2023, the ELTE University Library and Archives organised the eleventh conference entitled Traditions and Challenges. This year's programme included presentations on the themes of Artificial Intelligence and Library Automation and Public Collections in Network.

Our event was attended by a wide range of participants, with more than 120 guests, practitioners, academics and students, as well as representatives of service partners and sponsors. The attendees were welcomed by Dr. Kulcsár Szabó Ernőné Gombos Annamária, Director General of the ELTE University Library and Archives, and Dr. László Borhy, Rector of the Eötvös Loránd University.

Following the opening speeches, Dr. Lénárd Darázs, Vice Rector for General Affairs of Eötvös Loránd University, gave a presentation on the Ethical and Legal Framework for the Regulation of Artificial Intelligence. László Garamvölgyi, Deputy Director General of the ELTE University Library and Archives, presented the institution's service enhancements supported by automation. Dr. Sándor Soós, Head of the Science Policy and Science Analysis Division of the Library and Information Centre of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, presented the challenges of science metrics analysis and database services. The plenary session was closed with a presentation by Bea Winkler, Director of the Hutÿra Ferenc Library, Archives and Museum and Assistant Professor of the ELTE Institute of Library and Information Science entitled Artificial Intelligence: 67 years, 67 days, 67 seconds – The opportunities and challenges of an ever faster changing world for librarians.

In the afternoon session on Artificial Intelligence and Library Automation, moderated by Bea Winkler, Ádám Parti, Head of Department (Library of Parliament) gave an insight into the inventory work of the Library of Parliament using RFID, István Udvardy, Managing Director (SmartFreq Kft.) gave a presentation on RFID-enabled library automation, Tünde Szabó, deputy director (Méliusz Juhász Péter Library) informed the audience about personalized library services and their book recommendation system. Dániel Takács, Head Librarian (ELTE Law Faculty Library), presented the topic entitled Artificial? Intelligence?, digital content developers Kata Ágnes Szűcs and Eszter Simon (National Széchényi Library Digital Humanities Centre) gave a presentation on dHUpla: from manuscript to automatic language processing.

The session entitled Public Collections in Networks was moderated by Dóra Gaálné Kalydy, Deputy Director General of the Library and Information Centre of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and firstly Gábor Szeberényi, Director General (University of Pécs Library and Knowledge Centre), shared his experiences at the University of Pécs on the topic of integrated networking and library services.  Georgina Schlay, Museologist (ELTE University Library and Archives) presented the work carried out in the framework of the University Heritage Coordination. Katalin Kelemenné Farkas (Klebelsberg Kuno Library of the University of Szeged) gave a presentation on the operation and development of MOKKA-R, while Krisztina Bergmann, Library Director (Library of Bárczi Gusztáv Faculty of Special Needs Education) gave an insight into the process of developing the quality assurance system of the ELTE library network, the main organisational changes and achievements of the last fifteen years. The session was closed by a presentation of Attila Szendi, Director General (University of Miskolc Library, Archives, Museum) entitled Library, Archives and Museum – integrated operational experiences.

The conference was supported by the University Library Foundation, the Hungarian Librarians' Association, the Scientific and Professional Library Section, ProQuest and Tripont. Abstracts of the presentations are available on our website. The ELTE University Library and Archives is planning to publish a conference volume on the 11th Professional Day „Traditions and Challenges”, which will be available in electronic form in the ELTE EDIT repository.

At the fourth quarterly report of the K21 Quality Coordination Committee 2023, the leaders of the working groups reported on the results of the past quarter, ongoing work and changes.

The Quality Management Handbook has been reviewed and improved, the chapters on communication have been partially revised, and the workflow review and strategy finalisation are underway. The data from the 2023 Student Needs and Satisfaction Survey have been aggregated with the assistance of the Primary Research Working Group and the analysis is being improved and revised.

The Process Management Working Group has completed the tasks related to the terms of reference and the library leaders have defined the key processes of the University Library Service (ULS).

The Communication Working Group provided information on the tasks and achievements of the K21 Quality Coordination Committee through our website, newsletter and short film entitled „3 months – 3 minutes”, and contributed to the success of the preparation and administration of the K21 reporting days meetings.

In the autumn, the Green Library Working Group organised an awareness-raising training, with lectures entitled „Go Green Library!” and Green Libraries – an international perspective, thought-provoking discussions and a quiz.

Library leaders held five meetings in the fourth quarter to discuss, among other issues, the revision of the performance appraisal system rating scale, the new quality objectives, the ULS terms of reference, key processes, the work plans of the Coordination Committees and the project to digitise paper-based theses.

The staff of the University Library Service participated in a strategy workshop this summer. Joint work is planned to continue in February 2024.

An update on the achievements of the K21 Quality Coordination Committee and our new developments will be posted on our website soon.