Propaganda activities of the Information Centre for Building (ÉTK) and possibilities for future development

Abstract

Besides its documentation and information work, the twenty-year-old Information Centre for Building is also engaged in publicity activities.
Ever since 1961, the Centre has been responsible for organizing exhibitions on construction and building materiál industries and also on architecture, which are to promote the diffusion of advanced foreign technologies in Hungary and to propagate abroad the Hungarian achievements in this field. With the introduction of the new system of economic management, the organization of exhibitions, serving both the propagation of the products of companies and the information of the population, has come into prominence. For the time being, the Centre organizes well over 30 shows and exhibitions annually. The Permanent Exhibition Hall for the Building Indurtry, the construction of which started in 1970, will make a home for the permanent exhibition coupled with an efficient information service, similarly to building centres existing abroad.
Since 1962, the Centre's technical publicity services have been extended. Building industry newsreels, technical and educational films, films on the prevention of accidents, on art monuments, are produced and circulated. The well-equipped studio puts out a yearly average of 15 technical films, and has 1500 copies of 300 films for loan. To promote the use of foreign special literature, a translation service was started in 1957, employing a considerable number of expert translators, internal and external. This service now meets 65 to 70 per cent of translation needs in this branch of industry. 34.000 copies of translations are at the users' disposal. The publishing, printing and circulating of publications (books, periodicals and others) are also carried out by the Centre. The Centre publishes a yearly average of 1300 titles in several millions of copies. One of these publications, the Catalogue of the Hungarian Building Industry, which in its 30 volumes gives a comprehensive description of the technical parameters and the possible uses of Hungarian-made building materials, is particularly important. To promote the construction of buildings (agricultural, social, etc.) the Centre produces and circulates highly modem standard designs. It also runs microfilm and photo laboratories and renders such services for industrial companies. Based on the photograph material, the Centre's Photograph Archives have also started developing.