On the 31st of August 2023, the ELTE University Library and Archives organised the eleventh conference entitled Traditions and Challenges. This year's programme included presentations on the themes of Artificial Intelligence and Library Automation and Public Collections in Network.
Our event was attended by a wide range of participants, with more than 120 guests, practitioners, academics and students, as well as representatives of service partners and sponsors. The attendees were welcomed by Dr. Kulcsár Szabó Ernőné Gombos Annamária, Director General of the ELTE University Library and Archives, and Dr. László Borhy, Rector of the Eötvös Loránd University.
Following the opening speeches, Dr. Lénárd Darázs, Vice Rector for General Affairs of Eötvös Loránd University, gave a presentation on the Ethical and Legal Framework for the Regulation of Artificial Intelligence. László Garamvölgyi, Deputy Director General of the ELTE University Library and Archives, presented the institution's service enhancements supported by automation. Dr. Sándor Soós, Head of the Science Policy and Science Analysis Division of the Library and Information Centre of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, presented the challenges of science metrics analysis and database services. The plenary session was closed with a presentation by Bea Winkler, Director of the Hutÿra Ferenc Library, Archives and Museum and Assistant Professor of the ELTE Institute of Library and Information Science entitled Artificial Intelligence: 67 years, 67 days, 67 seconds – The opportunities and challenges of an ever faster changing world for librarians.
In the afternoon session on Artificial Intelligence and Library Automation, moderated by Bea Winkler, Ádám Parti, Head of Department (Library of Parliament) gave an insight into the inventory work of the Library of Parliament using RFID, István Udvardy, Managing Director (SmartFreq Kft.) gave a presentation on RFID-enabled library automation, Tünde Szabó, deputy director (Méliusz Juhász Péter Library) informed the audience about personalized library services and their book recommendation system. Dániel Takács, Head Librarian (ELTE Law Faculty Library), presented the topic entitled Artificial? Intelligence?, digital content developers Kata Ágnes Szűcs and Eszter Simon (National Széchényi Library Digital Humanities Centre) gave a presentation on dHUpla: from manuscript to automatic language processing.
The session entitled Public Collections in Networks was moderated by Dóra Gaálné Kalydy, Deputy Director General of the Library and Information Centre of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and firstly Gábor Szeberényi, Director General (University of Pécs Library and Knowledge Centre), shared his experiences at the University of Pécs on the topic of integrated networking and library services. Georgina Schlay, Museologist (ELTE University Library and Archives) presented the work carried out in the framework of the University Heritage Coordination. Katalin Kelemenné Farkas (Klebelsberg Kuno Library of the University of Szeged) gave a presentation on the operation and development of MOKKA-R, while Krisztina Bergmann, Library Director (Library of Bárczi Gusztáv Faculty of Special Needs Education) gave an insight into the process of developing the quality assurance system of the ELTE library network, the main organisational changes and achievements of the last fifteen years. The session was closed by a presentation of Attila Szendi, Director General (University of Miskolc Library, Archives, Museum) entitled Library, Archives and Museum – integrated operational experiences.
The conference was supported by the University Library Foundation, the Hungarian Librarians' Association, the Scientific and Professional Library Section, ProQuest and Tripont. Abstracts of the presentations are available on our website. The ELTE University Library and Archives is planning to publish a conference volume on the 11th Professional Day „Traditions and Challenges”, which will be available in electronic form in the ELTE EDIT repository.