The ELTE University Library and Archives hosted a Greek and Turkish delegation from the University of Thessaly and Hacettepe University between the 24th and the 28th of June 2024.

In line with Eötvös Loránd University's strategic goal of internationalisation, our institution is committed to international exchange, sharing of good practices and continuous service improvement in order to increase library users’ satisfaction.

The Greek and Turkish guests, who arrived during the Erasmus+ Programme, participated in the international professional networking programme and were given a guided tour of the library, our Copernicus exhibition and our restoration workshop, as well as a presentation of our library services, the BoYL project, our community spaces, our databases, our EDIT reference room and our service developments.

Members of the Greek delegation also gave a presentation on their library services, their ongoing nationalisation plans and their databases. A round table discussion was also held to exchange views. The institutional partners participating in this series of events are open to further cooperation where possible.

On the 18th and 19th of June 2024, the staff of the ELTE University Library Service (ULS) participated in a workshop on quality development led by Dr. Attila Szoboszlai, trainer.

During the two days, ELTE librarians developed a new vision and mission statement.  The strategic objectives of the ULA for the next three years were defined.

Nowadays, it seems inconceivable that serious scientists of past centuries could have attached so much importance to the current positions of stars and planets.

Diseases, wars, famines or perhaps good harvests, royal weddings and great discoveries await mankind? All this was thought to be read from the signs in the heavens. Join us in our search for the heavens and visit our Copernicus Memorial Exhibition entitled „The man who moved the Earth out of its place”. The exhibition will be open until the 10th of September 2024, on weekdays between 10.00 and 15.00, registration is possible by e-mail at titkarsag@lib.elte.hu.

According to our tradition, this year we joined the Night of Museums series of events, which included craft activities, concerts, guided tours, restoration and calligraphy workshops, as well as an exhibition entitled Copernicus Memorial Exhibition. 

The programme opened with a concert by the ELTE „Eötvös” Art Ensemble String Quartet from the ELTE University Concert Orchestra in the lobby, featuring works by Mozart, Telemann, Elgar and Mendelssohn.

Through our building tours, visitors were given an insight into the history of the library and the rooms of the historic building. They were also able to learn about the restoration process, our museum collection, the life and work of Loránd Eötvös and create unique hardcover books. During our event, our guests were able to attend the concert of the soloists of the Sabbathsong Klezmer Band and the world-famous cimbalom player Jenő Lisztes, entitled More than Klezmer on the Night of Museums.

This year’s event also included the presentation of the Copernicus Memorial Exhibition. Visitors were able to take an interesting quiz based on the exhibition, colour bookmarks and use our library puzzles to build our library palace and reassemble fragments of our codex pages.

The Copernicus Memorial Exhibition is open until the 10th of September 2024, from 10.00 to 15.00 on weekdays. Registration is possible at titkarsag@lib.elte.hu.

Iván Nagy, genealogist, historian and former colleague of our library was born 200 years ago, on 18 July 1824 in Balassagyarmat. Between 1855 and 1870 he was a member of the staff of the University Library first as a librarian and then as the first guard from 1859. As a librarian, he was involved in the compilation of the basic catalogue and the reading service, and also engaged in significant scientific activities: he published several sources from the manuscript archives of our library dating from 16th and 17th centuries, and between 1857 and 1868 he published his major work in twelve volumes, Families of Hungary with Coats of Arms and Genealogical Tables.

On the day of the anniversary, the statue of Iván Nagy was worshipped in the Palóc Museum of the Hungarian National Museum, followed by a cerenomy of remembrance and toasts by representatives of institutions connected with Iván Nagy’s life, work and legacy. The event concluded with an interactive genealogy presentation by Nógrád County archivists.

Due to the Night of Museums, the library services of the ELTE University Library and Archives will be inaccessible on Saturday, on the 22th of June 2024. Everyone is welcome to join our programmes starting at 15.00.

More details about our event are available on our website, on the official Night of Museums website and here. All visitors are welcome!

On 12 June 2024 - The Petőfi Literary Museum's exhibition entitled "Halcyon Days - Fashion and Culture in Reform-Age Pest" opened, featuring an engraving depicting George Sand which was loaned from the ELTE University Library and Archives. The exhibition explores the relationship between dress, social life, press and literary publicity in the 1840s. Petra Török, the acting director, welcomed the audience at the opening. The exhibition was inaugurated by Anna Fábri, followed by a costume performance. The exhibition is open until 31 March 2025. 

The National Széchényi Library (NSZL) and Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) have agreed that NSZL will digitize almost 200,000 ELTE paper-based doctoral dissertations and theses by 2027. The documents were signed by Dávid Rózsa, Director General of NSZL, László Borhy, Rector of ELTE, and Ernő Kulcsár Szabó Annamária Gombos, Director General of ELTE University Library and Archives at the Rector's Office of the University.

The aim of the cooperation is to make documents accessible to university citizens in a modern, digital format, thus supporting future AI-based innovations and analyses.

ELTE, Hungary largest university, preserves outstanding intellectual and data assets, including the approximately 186,000 paper-based doctoral dissertations and theses that NSZL submits into digital form after a health check.

This is the largest digitisation agreement in NSZL's history, as a result of which more than ten million pages of documents will be searchable by 2027, Dávid Rózsa said after the signing. According to László Borhy, Eötvös Loránd University has an enormous intellectual product output, and thanks to the agreement, this knowledge will finally become accessible and researchable in a worthy way.

One of the pillars of NSZL's online content service is Central Europe's largest and most significant digitization centre, which enables operational, mass and full-scale digitisation. The capacity of the equipment fleet of the thousand-square-meter center exceeded 13 million exposed pages per year last year. It is extremely important for the national library to put its digitizing capacities at the service of public benefit projects. Through the cooperation, ELTE students and researchers have access to the institution's rich knowledge base in a modern form, thus supporting scientific research and innovative technological developments.

Source: NSZL

The Repository Certification Committee of the MTMT (Magyar Tudományos Művek Tára = Hungarian Science Bibliography - the database of Hungarian scientific publications) issued certificates to the Elpis Journal of Philosophical Sciences based on the submitted certification requests.

The journal Elpis was founded in 2007, it operates from 2017 as Elpis Journal of Philosophical Sciences, the open-access, peer-reviewed, periodical journal of the Doctoral School of Philosophical Sciences at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE, Budapest). It is acknowledged by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences: it is listed on the "accepted journals" of the Philosophical Comittee of the II. Department.

The primary mission of the journal is talent management, providing a forum for young colleagues in the field of philosophy. It deem it particularly important to ensure an appreciative reception for Hungarian philosophical books and encourage philosophical debates regarding actual problems.

The qualification protocol is used on journals’ publishing practices that either publish in online database-based software, are open access or delayed open access. During the procedure, the journal's quality control process (peer review) and the practice of informing potential authors and readers are examined. The purpose of the certification is to support the work of the editorial offices, to promote the uniform operation of domestic web journals, which also ensures the automatic data uploading of the bibliographic data of the articles into MTMT.

Currently, 21 journals have this qualification, and 6 of them are affiliated with the ELTE Faculty of Humanities.

We heartily congratulate the editorial board of the certified journals, as well as the authors published in the journals, and wish them further success in their scientific work.

Sources:
Qualified journals
Repository Certification Committee
MTMT classification of scientific online journals

Object of the month – Commemorative medal issued for the 350th anniversary of the ELTE’s founding

Our university was founded by Péter Pázmány in Nagyszombat (today Trnava, Slovakia) in 1635. In 1985, for the 350th anniversary of the founding, for example, in addition to the Hungarian coins, the Slovak Numismatic Society also produced a commemorative medal.

On the front of the commemorative medal is a bird's-eye view of Nagyszombat, with the Jesuit church in Nagyszombat and the adjacent university buildings in the center. Inscription on the upper part: "UNIVERSITAS TYRNAVIENSIS 1635-1985" On the back, bands divide the image of the medal into three rings, in the middle is the head of Christ. In the innermost ring, in fields separated by columns, alpha and omega signs, sun and moon, and the letters "R" and "T". In the next lane: inscription "POBOČKA TRNAVA SNS". Inscription beginning "350 VÝROČIE ZALOŽENIA UNIVERZITY" at the far end. Commemorative medal issued for the 350th anniversary of the foundation of the University of Nagyszombat.