The 11th Conference of the Local Studies Group of the Association of Hungarian Librarians (HLSG)
at Szolnok, July 2004

Local Studies – Digitisation – the European Union was the title and main topic of our latest conference, which took place at Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok County Library in Szolnok, in the middle of the Hungarian Great Plain.

In speaking about the principal theme, all the lecturers and their papers were professional and up-to-date.

A research fellow of the Ministry of Informatics and Communications demonstrated the National Digital Data Archives ( http://www.nda.hu ) and pointed out the connection between the NDA and the libraries. Cupertino was the subject of lectures by the president of Association of Confident Industry and by a fellow of The John von Neumann Digital Library (the Neumann House). Two leaders of Hungarian Electronic Library related their experiences in network for evaluating activities in digitisation within the European Union ( http://www.minervaeurope.org ) and in the conclusions of the 6th official meeting of the National Representatives Group in Dublin. The issue of the demands and expectations of the appearance of our digital products on the Internet came up too.

The question of the rights of authors is a difficult area within digitisation. The audience was given useful information on this from a member of the legal profession of the Society ARTISJUS, the Hungarian Bureau for the Protection of Authors' Rights.

The director of the Hungarian National Library honoured the conference programme with his presence. He spoke about the digitisation projects undertaken by the National Library. We also learned from each other through colourful lectures on the digitisation projects undertaken by the Local Studies departments in Eger, Hódmezovásárhely, Tiszafüred, Pápa and Fonyód.

The most elevating moment of our conference was when our colleague, Erzsébet Gáncs, showed her book about 10 years of our organisation.

The president, Béla Takáts presented a CD-ROM of our conferences up till now. In his closing speech - summing up the questions and problems of the libraries in the field of digitisation - Béla Takáts proposed a motion that our Group should write these worries and suggestions in an open letter to the Hungarian Library Institute and the Library Department of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage for help in our common work in the future.

You can see the photos of this event on the webpage: http://archiv.vfmk.hu/konferencia/foto.html and you can obtain an impression of this latest conference too.

Nóra Károly

Librarian, County Library of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok
The Local Studies Group of the Association of Hungarian Librarians (www.vmmk.hu/hksz)

The 10th Conference of the Local Studies Group of the Association of Hungarian Librarians (HLSG)
at Budapest, July 2003

Our capital was the scene of our conference in this year and the Budapest Collection of Metropolitan Ervin Szabó Library (http://www.fszek.hu) hosted the meeting from 16 to 18 July.

The new Central Library of the Metropolitan Library was re-opened in September 2001 after a 3-year period of reconstruction. In an area of 15,000 square metres the new wing and the restored Wenckheim and Pálffy Palace included a browsing area, open shelves, eleven reading rooms, an Internet room, a children's library, and a café. The Budapest Collection, with two other special collections, offers further opportunities for learning and searching. The work of the construction companies of the library was recognised by the architectural trade with an award of excellence and the title of "Best Architect of the Year".

The subject of our conference was “Self-organised local society (Historical changing and new forms)” The main theme of the lectures was the question of social participation for saving cultural heritage. The speakers acquainted us with civil organisations; reading clubs and table societies from the past, mostly from 19th century, and they presented examples of some current collaborations between their library and civil organisations or local associations.

There was an interesting civil lecture about a 2-year old patriot web-group (www.index.hu) which was made by citizens and inhabitants of a town, Nagytétény-Budafok. This virtual group is a real local community today. They met and communicated on the Internet, but today they know each other personally and they have common programmes in their free-time. Their common activities connect with history, and the present celebration of their town.

Between two parts of the professional programme, the group had a great outing. We took a view of the new National Theatre, and made acquaintance with Nagytétény and Budafok, these two districts of Budapest, which were not
well-known to us. The most interesting place was a freemason's chapel in a deep cellar from the 18th century, and the most pleasant one was a cool wine-cellar in that hot summer afternoon. Finally, we made friends and
shared our experiences at a laid table in a nice restaurant of historical Old Buda where Gyula Krúdy, the great Hungarian writer was habitual visitor. His table is marked by a memorial plaque today.

Last, but not least, it was pleasure to meet again with our colleagues from Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Nóra Károly
Librarian, Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok County Library
Hungarian Local Studies Group (http://www.vmmk.hu/hksz)