The state of the art of law libraries in Hungary

Abstract

The social, political and IT-related challenges of the 21st century have had a great influence on special and research libraries, including those with collections on law. Law libraries perform an important role in the Hungarian library system. They assume special library tasks, provide unique information resources and serve a special clientele with special needs. Law libraries can be categorized into some types, and the relevant types are illustrated with examples. The activities of court law libraries – which developed in the past 25 years into a well-organized Court Law Libraries System comprising 151 service units – are described in detail. Law libraries consider co-operation a high priority and founded a Section of Law Libraries within the framework of the Association of Hungarian Librarians.