The memory of Béla Kőhalmi. Biography and career path. Part 1

Abstract

Béla Kőhalmi (1884–1970) was a leading figure in 20th century Hungarian librarianship. He began his career as a librarian at the Budapest City Library in 1909, working closely with Ervin Szabó. He actively contributed to the renewal of the institution, which was reorganised as a public library, and he created the decimal subject, alphabetical and geographical catalogues. From 1913 until its demise, he was editor of the journal Könyvtári Szemle, which promoted modern library endeavours. Kőhalmi, a leftist, was a major participant in the 1919 Soviet Republic in Hungary, became deputy commissioner for library affairs together with László Dienes. He tried to keep feverish ideas in line and prevent exaggerations. After the fall of the Soviet Republic in 1920, he went into exile, lived in Vienna, supporting himself and his family as a contributor to the Hungarian émigré press and various German-language newspapers. He returned to Budapest in 1934 and worked as a journalist until 1945. The second period of his work as a librarian began in 1945, when he became a staff member and deputy director of the Budapest Library, then named after Ervin Szabó. Later worked at the National Library Centre, playing a major role in rescuing the collections of confiscated monastic libraries. He put his knowledge and experience to good use as editor of the nascent library press. He was elected chairman of the Main Committee for Library Science of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1954, and from 1956 he became involved in librarian education as a university professor, playing a decisive role in the consolidation of higher education for librarians. In addition to his teaching activities, he was a member of numerous professional bodies. In his academic work, he was mainly concerned with theoretical and practical issues of bibliography and information, and his studies were mostly published in Magyar Könyvszemle, of which he was a member of the editorial board and from 1957 editor-in-chief. He was awarded the Kossuth Prize in recognition of his work, and his academic achievements were recognized by the award of the degree of Candidate of Literary Sciences.