Under the professional guidance of the ELTE University Library and Archives, the libraries of the University supported the Hungarian language education and the studies of the students at the Georgian sister institution with a donation of books, which provided the basis of the Hungarian Library Department of the Tbilisi State University, officially opened on the 12th of December 2023.
At the request of the Rector of Eötvös Loránd University, Dr. László Borhy and Ambassador Anna Mária Sikó, the Director General of the ELTE University Library and Archives, Dr. Kulcsár Szabó Ernőné Gombos Annamária with the University Library Service has been collecting books for the Hungarian Library of Tbilisi State University during the past year. A total of 272 volumes (148 literature books, 124 reference books) were donated to the Hungarian Library Department, which currently contains 358 books, partly from publications purchased by the ELTE University Library and Archives at the request of the Georgian University, partly from staff donations and from the ELTE libraries (including the Faculty Libraries of the Faculty of Humanities, Faculty of Natural Sciences and Faculty of Social Sciences).
The book donation included cultural literature in Hungarian and English, art and architecture albums, gastronomy books, language books, textbooks on language and literature, and fiction in English and Hungarian. The majority of the teaching aids for the courses were provided to the University of Georgia by the Hungarian Language Training, Diaspora and Balassi Programmes Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary.
The department is unique in the country for the rich and extensive collection of Hungarian language and Hungarian-related books. In addition to openness to Hungarian culture and the dissemination of values, the parties are committed to further cooperation and the strengthening of international relations.