At the third 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.

The reports on the Electronic Content Usage Survey and the ELTE Staff Survey, prepared with the assistance of the Primary Research Working Group, were unanimously adopted. The data for the 2023 Student Needs and Satisfaction Survey have been aggregated and the analysis is in progress. Preparations are underway for the revision of the Quality Management Manual.

The Process Management Working Group has finalised the consolidation of the tasks in the Task Catalogue, and the process inventory and the definition of key processes will be prepared in the future.

The Communication Working Group provided information on the tasks and achievements of the K21 Quality Coordination Committee 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. News was published about the University Library Service's honourees, as well as the functioning and services of the ELTE Library Network for first-year students.

The Green Library Working Group will organise an awareness training for the staff of the University Library Service in the autumn.

The library managers held two meetings in the third quarter to discuss, among other issues, the lessons learned from the survey on the use of electronic content, the 2024 EISZ orders, the ELTE staff survey report and current issues.

The staff of the University Library Service participated in a strategy workshop this summer. Joint work is planned to continue early next year. The review of quality objectives is ongoing.

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

The object of the month – Statue of Miklós Radnóti made by Imre Varga

The bronze statue of Miklós Radnóti leaning against the railing and looking in front of him is a scaled-down copy of the life-size statue of Radnóti in Mohács in 1970 by the Kossuth Prize-winning sculptor Imre Varga (1923–2019). Size: 48 x 40 x 24 cm.

Miklós Radnóti’s name was adopted by our school in 1959, on the 50th anniversary of the poet’s birth.

In 1985, on the 25th anniversary of the naming, Radnóti’s statue became the property of the school, from a teacher’s donation. The statue stands in the hall on the ground floor of ELTE Radnóti Miklós Primary School and High School, on its marble pedestal you can read the last two lines of Miklós Radnóti’s poem „Őrizz és védj”.

Compiled by Hedvig Kocsis

From Information Acquisition to Publication Skills, an online course in Hungarian is available at ELTE between the 9th of October and the 30th of November 2023, with a flexible schedule.

Participants will gain knowledge on library and database use, publishing, information retrieval and learning methodologies, as well as research data management, copyright and ethical use of information.

Applications are open until the 10th of November 2023.

Registration and more information is available here.

For further questions or requests, please contact the course coordinators Krisztina Egri (egri.krisztina@tatk.elte.hu) and Ferenc Sot (sot.ferenc@barczi.elte.hu).

This booklet, printed during the era of the great religious debates of the 17th century, contains the views, arguments and thoughts of three Protestant thinkers. The volume was printed in Frankfurt, probably because of the small number of Protestant printers in the Kingdom of Hungary, and possibly also because of the strictness of censorship. This is probably why neither the printer nor the publisher is known.

The title-page is printed in red and black two-colour, but the slip of the lines shows that the printer may not have had much experience in the art of printing in multiple colours. Balthasar Meisner (1587–1626), the author of the first work, takes up and gives a worthy Protestant answer to the cunning theological questions posed by the Jesuits, usually to confuse 'the good, pious simpletons'. The orthodox Lutheran theologian Nicolaus Hunnius (1585–1643), later superintendent of Lübeck, was mainly interested in religious controversies, and he repeatedly attacked the Roman Catholic Church, mostly in writing. Another great exponent of Lutheran orthodoxy, Johann Friedrich Meyer (1650–1712), already had a considerable collection of books in his day, and in the early 18th century his library was one of the largest private collections in addition to coins and portraits of the great figures of Protestantism by the great painter Lucas Cranach the Elder.

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 I 335

Balthasar Meisner

Catholicus valasz az esaviták eretnek kérdésére: hol volt Lutherus előtt az igaz vallás avagy Anya Sz. Egyház? Az pápisták között szorongatásban lévő minden evangelicus keresztényeknek Ao. 1627. ki adatott Meisner Boldisar a Sz. Irás doctora, és wittenbergai professor által. Mostan pedig az ecclesia nyomorúságin keserves könyveket hullató egy nevezetlen személy nemzetének hasznára, s az, veszedelemben tántorgó lelkek javára magyar nyelvre németből fordítván nyomtatásban ki adott.

együtt nyomtatva:

RMK I 336

Nicolaus Hunnius

Rövid fundamentomos tracta, mellyből a kegyes olvasó a romai és evangelica ecclesiakról ítéletet tehet, Isten igéjéből elő adatott Nicol. Hunnius d. és lübecki superintend. által.

RMK I 337

Johann Friedrich Mayer

A pápista vallásra hajlott Lutheranusok lelkek isméretinek kinnya, mellyet edgy Sz. Írás magyarázó Mayer Frid. János nevű doctor és p.p. eleikben irása által ki bocsátott.

Francofurti : [s.n.], anno 1692.

On the 28th and the 29th of September 2023, the ELTE University Library and Archives, in cooperation with the National Széchényi Library, the Institute of History of the Humanities Research Centre and the Archives of the Hungarian Order of the Society of Jesus, organised a series of scientific lectures to mark the 250th anniversary of the dissolution of the Society of Jesus and the 300th anniversary of the birth of George Pray.

As the opening event of the conference, Dr. Kulcsár Szabó Ernőné Gombos, Director General of the ELTE University Library and Archives, welcomed the guests, followed by the opening speech of Dr. László Borhy, Academician and Rector of Eötvös Loránd University. In his speech, the Rector commemorated the very first Jesuit period of the University, and praising the work of the Jesuit scholar György Pray, he emphasised that "we should not forget his huge collection of manuscripts, with which he created the basis for the manuscript collection of the University Library, and it is thanks to him that the manuscripts of the great Jesuit collectors of sources, Gábor Hevenesi and István Kaprinai, also found their way into our library".

For the Jesuit monk Father Zoltán Koroknai, SJ socius provincialis of the Society of Jesus of Hungary, was a special pleasure to organise the event in the building of the library palace, where György Pray once served as second guard. Recalling the serious negative consequences for György Pray of the dissolution of the Jesuit Order in 17773, he mentioned that, despite the hardships, Pray had remained a dedicated and faithful academic and library director.

In his welcome speech, Máté Vincze, Deputy State Secretary for Public Collections and Cultural Development, referred to the foundation stones laid by György Pray in the Hungarian scientific and public collections field, which can be built upon today. The way to pass on our cultural heritage to future generations is to cherish the memory of our ancestors and role models, for which this event is an excellent opportunity and example.

On the first day of the two-day conference, lectures on the educational activities of the Jesuits, the dissolution of the Society of Jesus and the work of Jesuit scholar György Pray were held in the Reading Hall of the ELTE University Library.

On the second day of the lecture series, expert presentations were given at the National Széchényi Library on the Pray Codex, the Funeral Sermon and Prayer, Latin (liturgical) language and vernacular.

On the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the Budapest University Athletic Club, the ELTE University Library and Archives joined the initiative as a sponsor and donor.

Our library supported the „Books in Hand!” project by donating sixty carefully selected books on various topics related to sport and healthy living. The selection included volumes on the history of the university and a recent biography of Loránd Eötvös. The books are part of the club library of ELTE BEAC Pluhár István Football Club in District 11, which is available free of charge to players using the football pitch. We wish all those interested an enjoyable time and reading experience!

Two hundred and fifty years ago, in 1773, Pope Clement XIII dissolved the Jesuit order, accelerating the process of the university's transfer to the state. Between 1635 and 1773, many distinguished Jesuits of great knowledge taught at our university, leaving a lasting mark on the history of the institution. In September our feature is on the father of Hungarian critical historiography, the former director of our library, György Pray. 

György Pray was born on 11 January 1723 in Érsekújvár. He began his studies at the Jesuit College in Pozsony in 1734 and applied for admission to the Jesuit Order in 1740. After completing his studies, he began teaching in Nagyszombat, where he also wrote his first literary work. In 1758 he began his work on the origins of the Huns and the Hungarians, and in 1761 he asked to be released from his teaching duties because he wanted to write history. The magistrates of the Order granted his request, and from then on his profession was "elucubrator historiae Hungariae", i.e. researcher of Hungarian history. His first historical work on the origins of the Huns, Hungarians and Avars was published in 1761, and he continued to publish his yearbooks on the first period of Hungarian history until 1768. From 1767, the Empress allowed him to carry out research in the archives of the Hungarian Chamber and to make copies of the documents there. In 1770, he published our first Hungarian-language memoir, the Halotti Beszéd (Sermon on Death), in 1773, from a codex found in the Bratislava Chapter Library. In 1777, after the dissolution of the Jesuit order, Maria Theresia entrusted György Pray with the duties of director of the University Library. His presidency was an extremely eventful and important period in the life of the library. The Empress wanted to develop the former library of the Jesuit College in Nagyszombat into the country's scientific centre. The library was moved first to Buda and then to Pest, and the entire library material of the abolished monastic orders was given to the library to increase its holdings. Pray resigned from the library in 1790, when he was appointed canon of Nagyvárad by the emperor. He spent his last years in Nagyvárad and died on 8 September 1801. In 1784, he gave his extremely valuable collection of books and documents to the University Library in return for an annual fee, and in his will he also made a 300 forint endowment for poor university students.

The library intended to draw attention to the protection of our cultural values ​​and the preservation of our built heritage with our event organized in the University Library and Archives of Eötvös Loránd University within the framework of this year's Cultural Heritage Days.

On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the birth of György Pray, the father of Hungarian critical historiography and former director of our library, and the 250th anniversary of the abolition of the Jesuit order, a chamber exhibition was opened with our documents related to the Hungarian Jesuits’ missions in South America. The exhibition entitled Unus non sufficit orbis – One world is not enough: Hungarian Jesuits in South America is open until the 31st of May 2024, and can be visited on weekdays from 10.00 to 15.00. Registration is possible at titkarsag@lib.elte.hu. More information about our exhibition is available on our website.

The Sabbathsong Klezmer Band opened our programme with a small Rosh HaShana (New Year) concert, featuring Hebrew and Yiddish songs by Tamás Masa and Anita Masa. Lovers of books, science and the arts were given a guided tour of the library’s history and the rooms of our historic building. The visitors gained an insight into the restoration workshop, our museum collection, and the life and work of Loránd Eötvös. Important events in the history of our university were also explored in the frame of our exhibition entitled Book, Robe, Science – Symbols from the History of Eötvös Loránd University. During our events, our guests were able to make unique, hardcover handicraft books, and calligrapher Dezső Buzogány explained the art of calligraphy.

We closed our programme with a concert by the Coquette duo. In addition to jazz standards, Hedda Gál (vocals) and Zsolt Horváth (guitar) played a selection of songs by Zsuzsa Cserháti in honour of the 20th anniversary.

The event was implemented with the support of the Municipality of Budapest, District V, Belváros–Lipótváros and the Foundation for the University Library.

The Autumn Festival of Museums between the 25th of September and the 12th of November 2023 also offers a variety of our programmes. All visitors are welcome!

On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the birth of György Pray, the father of Hungarian critical historiography and former director of our library, and the 250th anniversary of the abolition of the Jesuit order, we invite you to an exhibition of documents related to the missions of the Hungarian Jesuits in South America.

The exhibition offers visitors a special selection of manuscripts and printed documents. The South American continent was one of the main scenes of the Jesuit Order's flourishing in the 18th century. It was one of the most important places where the most enthusiastic and adventurous members of the Jesuit Order, including Jesuits of Hungarian origin, carried out their missionary work. If you want to know what adventures the friars had in the depths of the jungle, how they canoed down the Amazon or what experiences they had among the Indians, visit our exhibition! 

The exhibition is available on weekdays between 10.00 and 15.00. Registration is possible at titkarsag@lib.elte.hu.

Venue:

ELTE University Library and Archives

1053 Budapest, Ferenciek tere 6.

The object of the month – A textbook in Latin

The coursebook of the Czech educator Jan Amos Komenský (in Latin: Johannes Comenius, 1592–1670), the so called ’Orbis pictus’, was originally made to help pupils to learn Latin the easiest way. However, it also contains materials from almost every scientific field, hence becoming a simplified encyclopaedia of the 17-th century knowledge.

The work was printed first in 1658, and until 1917 it was published for almost 300 times. The first four-language edition was issued in 1666 in Latin, German, French and Italian – this particular book was also written in these languages. In the beginning, the work was illustrated with woodcuts, but later on the pictures were printed with copperplates. The coursebook contains 150 topics, each illustrated with a picture and complemented with word-lists as tools to help the pupils in the process of studying. Among the topics one can find nature, flora and fauna, religion and the aspects of human life, e. g. the human body, craftsmanship and children’s games.

This book once belonged to historian János Mircse of Barátos, who left his book collection to the University Library. (This catalogue can be find under the call number J 147/d I-II.)

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 623/a

Komenský, Jan Amos (1592–1670): Joh. Amos Comenii Orbis sensualium pictus quadrilinvis emendatus, hoc est: omnium fundamentalium in mundo rerum et vita actionum pictura et nomenclatura Germanica, Latina, Italica et Gallica. Cum titulorum indicibus atque vocabulorum dictionariolis accurante Matthia Cramero, lingv. exotic. professore. Cum gratia et privil. sac. caes. majestatis. regis Poloniae et sereniss. electoris Saxonici.

Noribergae : sumptibus Martini Endteri, MDCCVII.