Fragments from the first twenty years of the Hungarian Library Institute

Abstract

The activities of the Hungarian Library Institute are presented in the past twenty years. The current director of HLI reviews the most important events and tasks, starting with 2000, when HLI was founded, based on work plans and annual reports. HLI performs basically three functions: 1) As a methodological centre, it manages data, records and statistics about the library system in Hungary. It provides guidelines, rules and professional supervision for unified work processes and quality management. It assists the work of the Ministry of Human Resources with research, analyses, trend reports, comments on legal regulations. 2) HLI is a centre of training and further training. Its primary target group are Hungarian librarians, living in the mother country and in the neighbouring countries. Its courses are open for teachers and professionals from cultural institutions and other public collections as well. 3) HLI’s special library serves as a documentation and information centre. It publishes professional journals and bibliographies of nationwide relevance.

The article discusses selected activities from HLI’s rich and versatile profile, reflecting at the same time the development of the Hungarian library system in the past twenty years.