Institutional identity at the crossroads of tradition and progress – From where and where is the Tiszántúl Reformed Diocesan Library heading?

Abstract

The Tiszántúl Reformed Church District Great Library is the largest church library in Hungary. The research article explores the issues of institutional identity in the inevitable tension between the preservation of self-identity and openness to change. It draws first on a traditional and then on a more recent metaphor to define itself, and then discusses recent challenges, changes, pathfinding and achievements in the theoretical framework of some social science models of institutional identity. In the case of institutions with a long history, the formulation of identity from a historical perspective may run the risk of either failing to integrate the factual data of the present into the inherited self-image and therefore obscuring it, or of forcing it onto a trajectory that alienates the institution from its own environment. This study seeks to present, in a self-reflexive and factual way, the challenges and achievements of the library’s collections, public spaces, users and staff, and to anticipate some important elements of a vision for the future to be developed.