A delegation of international professional guests visited the ELTE University Library and Archives on the 7th of July 2023 in the frame of the cultural programmes at the LIBER 2023 conference.

This year's event, organised by the Library and Information Centre of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in Budapest between the 5th and the 7th of July 2023, under the title Open and trusted – Reassessing research library values, focused on the preservation and development of collections, open access, research support, research data management, service development and future challenges. Several members of our library staff represented our institution at the conference.

The group, which was hosted by our institution, had the opportunity to take part in a guided tour of our library, our exhibition entitled Buda Chronicle 550 and a book presentation of some of the special museum treasures in our collection.

Object of the month – Pável Memorial Room

In October 2006, the Berzsenyi Dániel College purchased Ágoston Pável's bookcase and desk from his daughter, Judit Simon Pável, to furnish the Pável Memorial Room. The Memory Room, currently located on the second floor of the Savaria Library and Archives of the ELTE University Library and Archives, features tableaux presenting the life and work of Ágoston Pável. In addition to the furniture and personal objects (briefcases, letters, ID cards), the Memorial Room also contains Ágoston Pável's dictionaries, his linguistic studies, poems and his translations.

Ágoston Pável (1886–1946) was one of the most prominent figures in the intellectual life of Vas County and the most famous Slovene in Hungary.

He was born into a Vend (Slovene) family, his mother tongue was Vend. He never denied his origins, always proud of his dual (Slovene and Hungarian) identity. To quote Gyula Illyés, Ágoston Pável is „the faithful son of two nations”. He graduated from the Premontrian Grammar School in Szombathely, and in 1905 he enrolled in the Hungarian-Latin department of Pázmány Péter University, but even there he was already deeply interested in Slavic philology. Already at that time, his writings on linguistics and his translations of fiction were published in many places.

He graduated in 1911 and received his doctorate in 1913 in Budapest. First he taught in Torda, then in Dombóvár, and finally in 1920 he returned to Szombathely and became a teacher at the State Girls' Secondary School.

From 1924 until his death he was the keeper of the library of the Szombathely Museum. During his activity, the books were categorised and the collection was continuously expanded (later the independent Szombathely library was established from this collection). The Friends of the Museums Association of Vas-Vármegye, founded in 1933, owes its existence mainly to Pável. In the same year, the association launched the journal Vasi Szemle, of which Pável became editor-in-chief. Between 1928 and 1942, he was the director of the ethnographic collection of the Museum in Szombathely. He was a member of the Hungarian Ethnographic Society. As a researcher, he was primarily concerned with the life of the Vend people and the cultural relations between the Vend and Hungarian people. He also played an important role in the ethnographic exploration of the Őrség.

In 1941, he was qualified as a private lecturer of South Slavic language and literature at the University of Szeged. Among his students was Albert Szent-Györgyi. Years later, the Nobel Prize-winning scientist still remembered Professor Pável with a warm heart.

He died young, on 2 January 1946.

His literary work:

His first literary efforts were published in his home village's newspaper, Bimbófüzés. In the 1930s he published two books of poems. Although he is not one of the most important Hungarian poets, his lyric poetry is remarkable, and he is not only respected by Hungarians and Slovenes in his native land, but also in Slovenia and even by Slovenes living in Austria.

Perhaps even more important than his poetry is his work as a translator. Ivan Cankar, the Slovenian novelist, is known in our country for his work.

Beyond his poetry and translations, he has also done much for Hungarian literature. As vice-president of the Ferenc Faludi Literary Society, he met almost all the leading intellectuals of the time. As a mentor, he helped many of them get their literary start. The most famous among them are Sándor Weöres, who was a student at Pávelék, as well as Erzsi Gazdag.

The Memorial Room also houses a plaster bust of Slovenian sculptor Ferenc Kühár, made in 1943 of Ágoston Pável.

Written by Bognárné dr. Lovász Katalin

The National Programme for Electronic Information Services and the Eötvös Loránd University of Applied Sciences have contracted to support Open Access publishing for ELTE affiliated authors and several publishers.

The details are summarised in this document. Further information is available here.

The Jesuit István Tarnóczy (1626–1689) taught in Nagyszombat (Trnava), Kassa (Košice), Sopron, Lőcse (Levoča), and Győr. He penned several religious books. The one entitled Rex admirabilis […] (Admirable king…) is the versified life of St. Ladislaus of Hungary (r. 1077–1095) in 50 eulogies. The book was published by the Viennese printing office of Christoph Cosmerovius (1652–1685), son of Matthäus Cosmerovius (1606–1674).

The work was republished two years later with a new titlepage. Many of the miracles performed with the intercession of St. Ladislaus are represented on engravings. In addition to Gábor Hevenesi’s book on saints and blessed related to Hungary titled Régi magyar szentség (1692), this was the main source of the chivalric king’s life in the 17th century. The engraving showing the saint’s equestrian statue erected in Várad (Oradea) in front of the cathedral dedicated to the Virgin Mary in 1390 is of particular attention. Since no reliable description, nor any contemporary representation of the statue has come down to us, it was hypothesized that the image in the book is a faithful depiction of the equestrian statue. However, as Terézia Kerny has pointed out, its original form was made unrecognisable by the baroque decorative elements. The other remarkable engraving in the book depicts the miracle of the „wringing water from a flint” known primarily thanks to one of the sermons of Pelbárt of Temesvár OFM. It became Tarnóczy’s version that was adapted again and again in the following centuries. In the opinion of Kerny, this miracle was filled with hidden symbolic meaning because it was easy to associate with the contemporary (18th–19th century) noble-national uprisings and liberation fights. This copy was possessed by the Jesuits in Trnava (Nagyszombat) in 1705.

The book is part of the book adoption program of the Foundation for the University Library. Save a book, adopt a book! For more information visit our website: https://konyvtar.elte.hu/en/support-us/adopt-a-book

RMK III 508a:1

Tarnóczi István: Rex admirabilis, sive vita S. Ladislai regis Hungariae historico-politica, ad Christianam eruditionem elogiis theo-politicis illustrata / authore R. P. Stephano Tarnoczi e Societate Jesu. Viennae Austriae [Wien] : typis Joannis Christophori Cosmerovii, Sac. Caes. Majest. Typographi Aulici, 1681.

At the second quarterly report of the K21 Quality Coordination Committee 2023, the leaders of the working groups reported on the results of the past quarter, ongoing work and changes.

On the 19th and on the 20th of June 2023, the staff of the University Library Service (ULS) participated in a strategy workshop. Taking into account the micro- and macro-environmental circumstances and conditions, user needs, organisational characteristics and national and international trends, which are the main factors determining the strategy, our librarians jointly defined the main strategic objectives for the next five years, after a situation analysis. It is planned to continue this joint work in the autumn.

The Accessible Library Working Group organised a successful awareness-raising training on autism for ELTE librarians on the 12th of June 2023. The presentations, held by the staff of the ELTE Special Student Affairs Support Office, focused on the library needs of students living with autism. The presentations were followed by joint discussions, exchange of experiences and sharing of good practices.  

A report on the performance evaluation prepared by the Primary Research Working Group was unanimously accepted by the committee members. The results of the student needs and satisfaction survey 2023 have been sent by the ELTE Quality Office and the results are being evaluated. At Eötvös Loránd University, the data from the comprehensive staff survey and the survey on the use of electronic content are being compiled and analyses are being prepared.

The Process Management Working Group is responsible for standardising the tasks in the Terms of Reference and the document is currently being finalised. A virtual green library, compiled by the Green Library Working Group, is now available on the website. At the second National Green Library Conference organised by the József Attila Library, Zsuzsanna Kutasi presented on the environmental awareness survey of the ELTE university library network. Green awareness training is planned for the autumn.

The Communication Working Group has provided information on the tasks and achievements of the working groups through our website, newsletter and short film entitled 3 months – 3 minutes, and contributed to the success of the preparation and administration of the K21 reporting days meetings.

Library managers met four times in the second quarter to discuss, amongst other issues, performance evaluation, 2024 EISZ orders, management and delivery of theses.

An update on the achievements of the K21 Quality Coordination Committee and our new developments will be posted on our website soon.

On the 12th of June 2023, the ELTE University Library Service's K21 Quality Management Coordination Committee's Accessible Library Working Group organized a successful awareness-raising and sensitization training on autism for ELTE librarians at the Ecseri Road building of the Bárczi Gusztáv Faculty of Special Education.

The presentations, held by the staff of the ELTE Special Student Affairs Support Office, focused on the library needs of students living with autism. The presentations were followed by joint discussions, exchange of experiences and sharing of good practices. Feedback from staff indicated that the training was very useful. 

We are happy to announce that the Scopus Content Selection & Advisory Board (CSAB) has accepted the application of the journal Dissertationes Archaeologicae ex Instituto Archaeologico Universitatis de Rolando Eötvös nominatae to the Scopus database and will start indexing it. Scopus is the bibliographic database of the Elsevier publishing house, which is suitable for searching both scientometrics research and scientific literature.

Dissertationes Archaeologicae is a journal published by the Eötvös Loránd University Faculty of Humanities Institute of Archaeological Sciences, which has been published since 1958 and publishes articles in the field of archeology in English, German, French and, for some topics in Hungarian. Every article has an abstract in English with respective keywords.

The mission of Dissertations Archaeologicae is the publication of archaeological publications examining the historical eras between the prehistoric and early modern periods in the areas of Europe, the Mediterranean coast and the Middle East. In addition to scientific studies, the journal regularly publishes field reports. It monitors archeology and related publications and regularly publishes reviews of them. A separate section is devoted to the display of abstracts of doctoral theses related to the field of science.

The journal offers without any charge its papers since its publication, as well as permits for any of its users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or add a link to the complete texts of the paper, whenever doing it responsibly and mentioning the original. Dissertationes Archaeologicae appears in the following catalogues: DOAJ, ERIHPlus, ROAD, Sherpa Romeo. The journal is archived in ELTE EDIT repository, and it is an „MTMT Qualified Journal” from 2023.

We are happy to announce that the Scopus Content Selection & Advisory Board (CSAB) has accepted the application of the journal RussianStudiesHu to the Scopus database and will start indexing it. Scopus is the bibliographic database of the Elsevier publishing house, which is suitable for searching both scientometrics research and scientific literature.

RussianStudiesHu is a journal published by the Foundation for the Russian Language and Culture, which has been published since 2019 with the support of the Eötvös Loránd University Faculty of Humanities Institute of Historical Studies Department of Eastern and Central European History and Historical Russistics. It publishes scientific articles in Russian, English and Hungarian on provide academic treatment of any issue related to Eastern Slavic, Russian or Soviet history (including their Hungarian and Eastern European aspects), either as a historian or by means of a related discipline.

Exceptional scholars from the world of international historical Russian studies have collaborated in the work of RussianStudiesHu, thereby enabling the journal to move beyond the limits not only of a specific university workshop but also of Russian studies in Hungary, and to serve the cause of universal knowledge. Every article has an abstract in English with respective keywords. The journal offers without any charge its papers since its publication, as well as permits for any of its users to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or add a link to the complete texts of the paper, whenever doing it responsibly and mentioning the original. RussianStudiesHu appears in the following catalogues: DOAJ, ERIHPLUS, MATARKA, CORE, BASE, Dimensions, WorldCat, EPA, CEEOL, Scilit, elibrary.ru. The journal is archived in ELTE EDIT repository, and it is an „MTMT Qualified Journal” from 2023.

According to our tradition, this year we joined the Night of Museums series of events, which included craft activities, concerts, guided tours, restoration and calligraphy workshops, as well as an exhibition entitled Buda Chronicle 550. 

The programme opened with a concert by the String Quartet from the ELTE University Concert Orchestra in the lobby, featuring works by Mozart, Kreisler, Elgar and Weiner.

Through our building tours, visitors were given an insight into the history of the library and the rooms of the historic building. They were also able to learn about the restoration process, our museum collection, the life and work of Loránd Eötvös and create unique hardcover books. During our event, the Festival Academy Budapest Ensemble gave a concert in the lobby, introducing our guests to the mysteries of music literature.

This year's event also included the presentation of the Buda Chronicle. The Chronica Hungarorum by András Hess is the most famous publication of the first printing house in Hungary, and the original version preserved in our library is also renowned for the fact that the edition never left the territory of historic Hungary.

The chamber exhibition of historical works related to the Buda Chronicle is open until the 8th of September 2023, from 10.00 to 15.00 on weekdays. Registration is possible at titkarsag@lib.elte.hu. All visitors are welcome!

Object of the month – Gothard’s transit instruments

A transit instrument (Fig. 1) was used to observe the transit of stars over the meridian. The accurate determination of this event provided declination and right ascension in case of an unknown star, while for a star of already known coordinates it provided stellar time. Two kinds of transit instruments were used. To measure the position of a star a meridian circle was used, while a transit tube made it possible to determine time exactly.

A meridian circle is made up of a telescope fixed perpendicularly to the horizontal axis of rotation going east-west, and „wheels” with degree scales at the ends of the axis. The telescope moved along only one axis, in the plane of the meridian of the observation point. The zero of the scale was denoted by the plane of the celestial equator, that is the projection of the Equator of the Earth. For stars north of this celestial equator a positive declination was measured when transiting the cross hair, while for stars in the south had negative declination at transit, the degree measure of which was read off from the circular scale at the end of the axis.

To determine right ascension an accurate clock measuring stellar time was needed as the right ascension of a transiting star is identical to stellar time. Exact determination of the moment of meridian transit was helped by practically constructed cross hairs in the eyepiece. The structure of the transit tube that determines stellar time is similar to the meridian circle, but smaller circles were applied on the axis ends as the scale was used to set the coordinates of stars and not for measurement. Observation in this case meant exact recording of the meridian transit of stars with known coordinates. This purpose was achieved by using a chronograph in the previous section, with the help of which Gothard carried out chronometric measurements to one tenth of a second.

„As the instrument to be set up in the meridian would be too difficult or even impossible to place in the main building, due to its location, in the summer of 1882 I built a smaller building on the meridian under a right angle and on its east end a small tower with a diameter of 3 m and with a revolving, conic tower for an equatorial to be purchased later. That is the building where the transit tube is placed, which I could just as well name meridian because it is supplied with an extremely finely scaled Reichenbach-circle.” – Gothard wrote in his paper submitted to department III of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1883. (Gothard Jenő: Spektrálfotografiai tanulmányok. Értekezések a Természettudományok Köréből, XXI. kötet, 2. szám, 1891.)

The instrument (Fig. 3) set up in the Herény transit house (Fig. 2) was produced in the Ógyalla workshop by Miklós Konkoly Thege in 1879. The simple instrument made up of theodolite parts, shown in figure 4.32 was bought by Gothard in 1882, but a few years later he entered the European "market of instruments" with his universal transit instrument produced by himself. The new universal observation device (Fig. 4) was sent to the observatory of Bothkamp in 1888. The masterpiece produced in the Herény workshop provided exact stellar time for setting the largest refractor of the epoch (diameter of the objective: 29.3 cm, focal length of the objective: 4.9 m) in the first astrophysical observatory of contemporary Germany.

The transit instrument in Bothkamp brought a new order to Gothard. In September 1891, on the order of Konkoly, he designed a transit instrument for the Central Meteorological Institute in Budapest. At this time appeared the new person showing an interest in the passage instrument:

„My deeply respected friend, In Munich you asked me whether I would be willing to make a transit instrument for you, similar to the one you saw in Bothkamp. So please do not resent my bid to make such an instrument. The Central Meteorological Institute of Budapest has ordered such an instrument from me and I believe I could sell them 10% cheaper if two were produced at the same time.” – Gothard wrote in his letter on the 29th of September 1891 to Maximilian Wolf, director of the Heidelberg Observatory. (Letter from Jenő Gothard, Universitätsbibliothek Heidelberg, Hs 3695)

As a result of the meeting in Munich, a beautiful observation instrument came to life and we can follow its realization from the moment of its conception to its birth in the letters documenting the consultations of two European scientists between the 29th of September 1891 and the 18th of October 1892. We can follow the details of how the transit instrument of Heidelberg (Fig. 5) was born in 25 letters, on 78 pages. In Jenő Gothard and Max Wolf’s discussion, apart from working out modern technical solutions necessary for the scientific task, accurate determination of time and localization, there are also a lot of references to the contemporary industrial background, which was indispensable for constructing the perfect instrument.

Written by József Kovács, PhD