Information technology development in the Budapest Ervin Szabó Library (FSZEK), Hungary, yesterday and today

Abstract

The reconstructed and expanded central FSZEK building and its municipal network has arrived at a new era of information infrastructure. The authors describe the preliminary preparations for the development, and the actual tasks of a 3-year development period during the reconstruction and expansion of the library buildings from 1999 to 2001. The information program of FSZEK developed in its final form in 2002 has been the basics of the information infrastructure of the member library's network and the library information system throughout Budapest's libraries. The application of a uniform integrated library software in the whole Budapest area is based on LANs and telecom network connections with proper bandwidth. The final objective is to make library services generally available, rationalizing library operations management, supporting decision making by feedback of information on the library systems's state, and to provide continuous training for both librarians and readers.