Between 23 and 24 September 2024, the library managers of CHARM-EU universities met at the ELTE University Library.

The aim of the design thinking workshop was to find innovative ways and opportunities for cooperation between the member institutions, beyond the educational and research interfaces, in the library field. The joint reflection and exchange of ideas provided an opportunity to learn about the strengths, good practices, latest developments and current challenges of the institutions represented, with a view to developing new levels of cooperation and common services for CHARM-EU students in the near future. During the workshop, the libraries' representatives explored possible areas of common ground for the development of research support and library services, as well as library support for the quality, international competitiveness and attractiveness of European higher education. The guests, representing nine institutions, visited our libraries and took part in a guided tour of the library history exhibition and the chamber exhibition, which was put together for the CHARM-EU Library Meeting, and had the opportunity to taste the richness of Hungarian culture in gastronomy and folk dance.

The CHARM-EU (Challenge-driven, Accessible, Research-based, Mobile European University) was launched in 2019 under the coordination of the University of Barcelona, in partnership with Eötvös Loránd University, the University of Montpellier, Trinity College Dublin and the University of Utrecht, and joined three years later by the University of Åbo Akademi, the University of Würzburg and Hochschule Ruhr West, and in 2023 by the University of Bergen. The alliance follows the vision of creating an inclusive, value-oriented, sustainable and research- and mobility-driven network that meets the challenges of the 21st century. The library leaders are committed to deepening the cultural ties between nations and institutions and to continuing the joint project.

For more details on the CHARM-EU project, please visit the University's website.

The Book of Your Life project was carried out between January and September 2024 in cooperation with the ELTE University Library and Archives, the ELTE, the International Strategy Office and the University Strategy Office.

The Europe Challenge is an annual programme to bring together libraries and their communities across Europe in a local challenge. This year, 55 institutions from 24 European countries took part, Hungary being the first country to do so. The programmes involved both a project responding to a local community problem, strengthening the community-building and community-organising power of libraries, and a learning programme, in which both the library and a representative of the community participated in online and face-to-face skills and knowledge development workshops, as well as mentoring sessions.

The ELTE University Library and Archives and the Student Union's Book of Your Life project has created a new, flexible and comfortable community space with a community kitchen, a learning space for individual, pair and group work, and a learning space for students, through the joint work of librarians and students. The new community space also offers the opportunity for student exhibitions: the opening event included the opening of James Clifford Viloria's PhD student photography exhibition Liminal Quarters, which presents the dormitory life of foreign students studying at ELTE, and the current exhibition Traditions Transcended – An Artistic Voyage by Kamila de Oliveira Sousa. The library will continue to welcome applications from students wishing to exhibit at kabinet@lib.elte.hu.

In our new community space, inaugurated at the beginning of the year, we organised a number of activities: a special event was the UNICYCLE upcycling workshop, where we raised awareness about sustainability by refurbishing furniture intended for the space. Our community space also hosted a series of intercultural training sessions for staff and fellow students who come into contact with international students and help them in their daily lives, aimed at developing understanding and cooperation between participants from different cultures. In addition, the Cultural Connection Day, organised by the Student Council, and the Liminal Quarters student club nights provided an excellent opportunity to contribute to the mental well-being of international students by building personal connections and a sense of belonging.

The aim of the Book of Your Life (BoYL) project, to support the cultural integration of international students coming to ELTE, to encourage contacts and to continuously improve the library's services based on the needs of the student community, remains of strategic importance for ELTE University Library and Archives and the community space will continue to host exhibitions, book launches, international events and workshops.

The Director General of the ELTE University Library and Archives, Dr. Kulcsár Szabó Ernőné Gombos Annamária, in her speech at the closing event, emphasized that the closing of the project is in fact the beginning of new challenges in the life of the library in its efforts to promote the inclusion of international students. The University Library and Archives, as a user-centred cultural institution, remains committed to building community, supporting education and research, and promoting cultural empowerment of students, and is open to future opportunities for collaboration with students in line with the University's strategy to achieve common goals.

More information about the Book of Your Life project

Zoltán Magyary (1888–1945) was an outstanding figure in Hungarian law and public administration, who put his outstanding scientific achievements into practice. After obtaining his doctorate in law, he worked as a civil servant, and from 1930 he was head of the Department of Public Law and Public Administration Law at the Faculty of Law and Political Science of our University.

Magyary is credited with the foundation of the Hungarian Institute of Public Administration. He published his scientific results in four languages and was an internationally renowned scholar of public administration. His legacy was kept at the Department of Administrative Law of the Faculty of Law and Political Sciences, and in 2022 it was handed over to our archives. The other part of the documents is kept in the Magyary Zoltán Knowledge Centre and Library in Tata, his birthplace. The complete series of Hungarian Public Administration, the journal founded by Zoltán Magyary, and a collection of his published works can be found in the Library of Parliament. All three collections have been digitised in cooperation between ELTE and the National University of Public Service, and now the entire archive is available in the ELTE Digital Institutional Knowledge Repository.

Index of the legacy in our archives: http://univa.mflsz.hu/index.php/magyary-zolt-n-iratai

The digitised documents are available: https://edit.elte.hu/xmlui/handle/10831/85911

A delegation from the University of Jakarta International Indonesia (UNIJI) visited our library on 24 September 2024.

The delegation was able to gain an insight into the reading areas of our library, the history and architectural interest of the University Library, and our library services, which combine modern technological developments. They also took part in a guided tour of the exhibition Nine Universities, One Project – CHARM-EU and in our museum book presentation to foster international cultural relations. The institutions remain committed to deepening international and inter-institutional cultural relations and cooperation.

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.

As the opening of our program series, from 11.00 a.m. the audience could attend the harp concert by Klára Bábel entitled Sounds of Silence. A chamber exhibition of our museum documents related to the cities and culture of the CHARM-EU (Challenge-driven, Accessible, Research-based, Mobile European University) European University Association was opened, which can be visited on weekdays from 10.00 to 15.00 until 10 June 2024.  Lovers of books, science and the arts can take a tour of the library's architectural and historical wonders and the rooms of its historic building, learn about the process of book restoration, some of the special items in our museum collection and the life and work of Loránd Eötvös. The major events in the history of our University were also explored in 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 introduced the art of calligraphy.

We will close our series of events with a concert entitled „In a Hundred Versions” - Tamás Cseh’s songs performed by János Bárth. All visitors are also welcome to our Autumn Festival of Museums.

Photocopies of the medieval certificate collection created by László Fejérpataky are available in the ELTE Digital Institutional Repository.

In 1887, the Historical Seminary started its activities at our university, where students could learn, among other things, how to read diplomas. László Fejérpataky created a collection of diplomas for the Seminary, which was later enriched by Imre Szentpétery. After the dissolution of the Seminary in 1949, the collection of diplomas became the property of the successor Department of History, which handed it over to the University Archives in 1989. The collection contains a total of 106 documents, 96 of which date from before 1526. For a detailed description of the collection and the documents, see our fonds: http://univa.mflsz.hu/index.php/k-z-pkori-s-kora-jkori-oklev-lgy-jtem-ny

Photocopies of the diplomas are available in ELTE Digital Institutional Repository: https://edit.elte.hu/xmlui/handle/10831/106770

Due to the Cultural Heritage Days, the library services of the ELTE University Library and Archives will be inaccessible on Saturday, on the 21st of September 2024.

For a detailed programme, please, visit our homepage or the official website of the Cultural Heritage Days. All visitors are welcome!

Clarivate has offered trial access to its latest AI-powered service, the Web of Science Research Assistant. The service is available from the top menu bar of the WoS search platform until September 23, 2024, by connecting to the university internet network from the university premises, or by remote access after starting the VPN service.

The Web of Science Research Assistant is designed with and for researchers to help you get more out of the Web of Science Core Collection, the world’s most trusted multidisciplinary citation database.

The research assistant is a generative AI-powered tool that offers natural language, multilingual search capabilities, concise overviews of results, task-based guided walkthroughs, and visualizations to enhance your research. It delivers responses to research questions and contextual prompts to help you explore potential paths forward in your research. It supports a wide variety of research needs, including but not limited to:

• Exploring a topic
• Starting a literature review
• Finding a journal to publish in
• Identifying experts in a field

On the occasion of the Cultural Heritage Days, Klára Bábel will give an opening concert on the 21st of September 2024 at 11.00 at the ELTE University Library and Archives. The concert will feature works by Daquin, Handel, Mozart, Glinka, Glière and Godefroid.

Klára Bábel began her musical studies with the piano, and at the age of 12 she was accepted to the preparatory course at the Liszt Academy of Music. In 2007 she was admitted to the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Brussels, and in 2008 she was awarded a special prize at the 4th Vera Dulova Harp Competition in Moscow. In 2010 she was awarded the Artisjus Prize, in 2010, 2011 and 2013 she was also awarded the Annie Fischer Scholarship for Musical Performing Arts. In 2009 she won a trial with the MÁV Symphony Orchestra and in 2010 with the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 2024, she completed her doctoral studies at the Liszt Academy of Music and began her Master of Arts in Music Instruction at ELTE. She has participated in several master classes in Paris, Moscow and Nice. She regularly performs solo and chamber concerts in Hungary. In 2004 she gave a recital at Christie's auction house in London and in 2011 at the National Music University of Bucharest. Since 2013, she has been working with the Slovakian Quasars Ensemble in Bratislava and Kassa. In 2015 they won 1st prize in the chamber music category at the VII International Marcel Tournier Harp Competition with László Zalán Kovács, tuba player, and were finalists at the Concorso Internazionale di Musica Marco Fiorindo International Chamber Music Competition. In 2017, on the Festival Bach for All she was awarded the Festival Prize. Since 2011 she has been artistic director of the Sounds of Babel concerts. The concerts not only introduce the audience to solo harp literature, but also to the world of jazz, where the audience can hear a truly colourful repertoire in collaboration with outstanding artists.

Detailed programme:

L. Daquin: Deux Pièces

G.F. Händel: Theme and Variations

W. A. Mozart: Sonata No.15, K.545

M. I. Glinka: Nocturne

R. M. Glière: Impromptu

F. Godefroid: La Danse des Sylphes, Venice Carnival

For a detailed programme, please, visit our homepage or the official website of the Cultural Heritage Days. All visitors are welcome!

Object of the month - Eötvös Loránd University Commemorative Medal

The image on the obverse shows the portrait of Loránd Eötvös looking to the left. Circular: "SCIENTIARUM UNIVERSITAS BUDAPESTINENSIS DE ROLANDO FIVE NOMINATES". The image on the reverse side shows the coat of arms of the university: a floating arm holding a book in the shape of a Renaissance shield, the inscription "ELTE" above it, the year "1635" at the end of the arm to the right, the shield's head is cut with the colors of the state tricolor, and the base of the shield has wavy double bands.

The original Eötvös plaque was made in square form for the 325th anniversary of the university's founding in 1960, and the round commemorative coin on the reverse was completed in 1977 with a new coat of arms designed for the 200th anniversary of the university's move to Buda. The front cover is designed by goldsmith László Iván, the back cover is designed by graphic artist Ádám András, its professional expert is heraldic Iván Bertényi, and it is made by the State Mint. 1,000 were produced, of which 100 were struck in gold and 200 in silver.

The Eötvös Loránd University Commemorative Medal can be awarded to the leaders of the university who have performed outstanding work at the end of their term of office, or in recognition of their outstanding work spanning at least three decades to those university and college teachers – a maximum of three persons per year – whose legal relationship as a public servant has been terminated due to pension entitlement. The award is presented every year at the univerity’s opening of the academic year ceremony.

Written by Bianka Kovács-Molnár