The ELTE University Library and Archives officially opened its new book vending machine to students on the 4th of December 2023 in the lobby of the Library Palace.

In his welcome speech, Dr. Péter Sziklai, Vice Rector for Academic Affairs, welcomed the inauguration of the first ELTE book vending machine as another milestone in the development of the ELTE University Library and Archives. Modern technical innovations play an important role in the service, demonstrating openness to change and adaptation to technological advances. The new book check-out facility also demonstrates the University Library's commitment to the continuous expansion of its services to serve the university community.  

The Director General of the ELTE University Library and Archives, Dr. Kulcsár Szabó Ernőné Gombos Annamária, emphasized at the opening ceremony that the library's core values include openness to innovation and change in order to provide free access to information. In the last semester, with the support of the Student Union, the library’s opening hours were increased in the framework of a pilot project, which is now being maintained and extended to the end of the autumn semester and almost the entire examination period, from Monday to Friday between 9 am and 10 pm, and on Saturdays between 10 am and 10 pm.

The library aims to provide wider access by increasing the purchase of electronic literature, extending opening hours and providing automated solutions to enable students to access scientific textbooks more quickly and conveniently. The web application, the self-checkout machine, the free self-service scanning and printing all serve this purpose, including the new book acceptance machine that has just been officially inaugurated. These services are available from 7 a.m. on opening days.

The technical innovations introduced are meeting student demand, with last year's visitor numbers up 18% on the pre-pandemic peak year of 2019, and this year's numbers in the first 10 months of the year is already 22% higher than last year.

Listening to the needs of students is essential to improving library services, and the library will continue to strive to meet the needs of university citizens and readers. Thanking the ELTE Student Union for its cooperative support, the opening ceremony ended with the presentation of the book gifts hidden in the vending machines.

In the spring of 2023, the Presidium of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences decided to set up a committee whose main task was to develop an action plan for science practicioners against questionable publication practices.

As a result of the Committee’s work, a report entitled Proposals for the Handling of Articles for Journals that Engage in Objectionable Practices has been produced and on 16th October published on the MTA website.

Among the proposals from the Committee are:

„Proposal 9: Publications that have been published in journals with objectionable practices should be flagged in the MTMT after they have been listed.

Proposal 10: It is recommended that articles published in journals flagged for questionable publication practices after flagging not be given a „scientific” classification; they would thus appear in the MTMT summary table and not be considered for the title of Doctor of Science, in the selection of academicians, for applications to MTA, or for prize nominations. We recommend that institutions involved in domestic scientific research and funding do likewise.”

The Committee supported the use of the journal classification of the Norwegian Register for the future identification of articles published in journals with dubious practices in non-Hungarian journals. Specifically, it is proposed that articles published in journals classified as „0” in the list should be ignored in the various classifications.

For publications and journals published in Hungarian and in Hungarian journals, the Committee did not support the use of the Norwegian list; here they encourage the use of the classification currently available in the MTMT, which is based on the recommendations of the scientific departments of MTA.

At the end of October 2023, the MTA created a special sub-page on the MTMT website (List of journals that engage in objectionable practices 2024), where authors can get information about the journals concerned. The list will be updated in January–February 2024 on the basis of published final evaluations, but only positive changes will be included.

For more information, please visit the MTA website and study the full report Proposals for the Handling of Articals for Journals that Engage in Objectionable Practices (pdf, Hungarian version).

The most famous publication of the first printing house in Hungary is the Chronica Hungarorum (Buda Chronicle), produced by András Hess for the eve of Pentecost on the 5th of June 1473, the original version preserved in our library is also notable for the fact that the edition never left the territory of historic Hungary.

For the 550th anniversary of the Buda Chronicle in 2023, we have created a virtual exhibition based on our chamber exposition, on display between June and September 2023.

Discover a pocket-sized, multi-function library access tool for users of EBSCO Discovery Service™ (EDS) and EBSCOhost®. Ideal for quick and efficient searches, the app ensures progress on the go.

Features:

• User-friendly interface for both novice and advanced researchers
• Seamless synchronization across devices for organized research flow
• Leverage device strengths with native tools, facial recognition, and more
• Read or listen anytime, anywhere with access to external full-text content

The EBSCO Mobile App is available for iOS and Android devices. Ensure your device meets the requirements:

• Apple iPhones and iPads: iOS 11+
• Android Devices: Android 9+
• Chromebooks supporting Android apps via Google Play

For more information on using the EBSCO Mobile App, please see:

EBSCO Mobile App - Installation and Authentication FAQs

Downloading and Reading eBooks on the EBSCO Mobile App

EBSCO has offered trial access to the SocINDEX with Full Text database, that is available on the EBSCOhost platform until the 31st of December 2023. The University has subscribed to the database for 2024, so access can be continuous until the 31st of December 2024. The database is also available by connecting to ELTE's internet network or by remote access with a VPN service.

SocINDEX is the authoritative bibliographic database for sociology research. The database offers indexed records from top sociology journals covering many related studies.

SocINDEX with Full Text includes rigorous curation and indexing of Open Access (OA) journals, which has resulted in a growing collection of 811 active global OA journals. Once validated and certified for inclusion, these OA journals are treated with high-quality subject indexing and sophisticated, precise, as well as accurate full-text linking.

The database includes bibliographical data for 1,500,000 dissertations and theses, all of which are accessible in full text. EBSCO Open Dissertations makes electronic theses and dissertations (ETD) more widely available to researchers worldwide.

This initiative is a collaboration between EBSCO and BiblioLabs. The documents can be selected and searched on a well-searchable platform, EBSCOhost, either as a standalone database or in conjunction with other databases subscribed to by the university. The database and EBSCOhost, when connected to the ELTE internet network directly or through the use of VPN services, are accessible both on and off-campus.

As part of the Autumn Festival of Museums, our library offered guided tours, as well as book and restoration workshops presentations. 

This year's festival programme included tours of the library's history and the historical rooms of the building. Our visitors were given an insight into the book restoration process and the life and work of Loránd Eötvös. We also offered the opportunity to visit the exhibition entitled Unus non sufficit orbis – One world is not enough: Hungarian Jesuits in South America. Our guests were able to enjoy our book presentations from our museum collection. Everyone is welcome to our future events!

The object of the month – Lodoicea maldivica

The 12,000-item seed collection of the ELTE Botanical Garden is a comparative collection. The lots are kept at room temperature, so most of the species are not suitable for long-term preservation - in a state capable of germinating.

The compilation of the first items can be done at the end of the 19th century, and then the significantly increased material was damaged in World War II. When Szaniszló Priszter moved to the Botanical Garden, he took over and tidied up the damaged (broken vials) collection, which received a tray cabinet made for this purpose. The cabinet was moved from the foyer of the office to the botanical room, and then in 2017 to its final location, the upstairs core room.

The collection continues to grow to this day, for example, in recent years, a huge sea bean (Entada rheedii) with pods similar to a pea, almost half a meter long, and a Maldivian nut (Lodoicea maldivica), which can reach 25 kilograms in its habitat, as a gift from András Neményi. In the meantime, the collection, which continues to grow to this day, has also outgrown the closet. In 2015, with the participation of volunteers, the construction of the photographic database of the collection began, as well as the digitization of its data, which continues with the involvement of volunteers and university students.

Written by László Papp

EBSCO's Customer Training Specialist, Tibor Foltinsky conducts an online training for librarians, who can thus provide effective assistance to researchers and library visitors in the search for scientific information and can also hold training sessions for interested users.

The purpose of the webinar is to get to know the EBSCOhost platform, to present its special functions, and to explain search strategies.

Webinar language: English

Date: November 7, 2023, 3 p.m

Duration: 1 hour

Location: Teams Meeting

Join the meeting