UNIVERSAL AVAILABILITY OF PUBLICATIONS IN HUNGARIAN LIBRARIES Available to Purchase

Hungarian libraries have been organized into networks since the 1950s, and more recently there have been efforts to co‐ordinate acquisitions. The high cost of foreign publications is a problem. Legal deposit laws provide libraries with a generous number of copies of Hungarian publications, and this compensates to some extent for inadequacies in union catalogues. The National Széchényi Library is at present the main focus for interloan requests, but it normally acts only as a switching centre because it does not lend material. New regulations will promote the use of a larger number of supplying libraries. 23% of all requests are satisfied by libraries abroad. Interlending demand is at a relatively low level in Hungary, but shows a steady growth. Improvement requires government backing on policy and finance. Two new bodies that will bring some improvement are the Central Storage Library, a repository centre, and the Central Register of Libraries, which collects data on library holdings.