Library Services

Service Hours:

9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays

Opening Hours:

24/7 (for Collegium Fellows with access to the building)

Reference Library

The Library of Collegium Budapest is a small reference library containing 11,000 volumes. It aims to provide information on the most essential sources of professional literature. Our online catalogue offers a search opportunity either by author or title. Please note that you can have your hits only if you use the asterisk in the "search" field. Search by subject may be carried out with the help of a special subject term list, which contains all our subject headings. You will find this thesaurus choosing the "Subject" search field and then clicking on the green dot next to it. For the library catalogue, please click here.

Fellows have the privilege to check out as many volumes as they wish for the entire length of their stay. They are only required to sign the check-out card attached to the books and leave it on the librarian's desk. However, individual volumes of several-volume reference publications can only be borrowed for the shortest possible period. Please leave the returned books on the librarian's desk. She will put them back into the shelves. Please do not lend books borrowed from the library to anyone else without the librarian's prior authorization.

The library holds a collection of periodicals that represent the main fields of sciences. Scientific journals, weeklies and a few dailies are available in the saloon, which provides a quiet atmosphere to read.

Interlibrary Loan

Items not available in our library can be obtained via inter-library loan. Please forward to us requests written in a legible way, with bibliographic details as accurate as possible (e.g. author's full first name) preferably via e-mail. Please make a note if you are uncertain about any information, because the Library Service is happy to assist you. However, refrain from placing multiple requests for the same item. Your co-operation will greatly increase our efficiency and will enable us to respond to your request promptly.

Expected Inter-library Loan Delivery Periods:

• if the requested item is available in a library in Budapest, you will receive it within 3-5 workdays (or less in urgent cases);
• if the requested item is only available in a library outside Budapest, you will receive it within 2-3 weeks;
• if the requested item is not available in Hungary, the library will order it from abroad. Deadlines for such orders range between one week and a few months.

Interlibrary Loan Fees

Within Hungary:

• Articles: an electronic format: either free of charge or HUF 15-20 per page
• Articles: a printed format: HUF 15-20 per page + mailing costs
• Books: mailing costs only

International library loan rates:

• Articles
• via BME-OMIKK (Hungary): from 2800 HUF
• via Subito (Germany): 6-10 EUR
• via British Library (Great Britain): 7.75 GBP
• Books
• via BME-OMIKK (Hungary): 4500-5500 HUF
• via OSZK (Hungary): 4500 HUF
• via Subito (Germany): 14 EUR
• via British Library (Great Britain): 14.40 GBP
• Copies of parts of books
  • via Subito (Germany): from 8.5 EUR

The above costs will be deducted from your research allowance.

The librarians will keep you updated on the probable date of the requested item's arrival. We will immediately notify you of any possible delay.

The return date of items requested via interlibrary loan is displayed on a sticker on the front cover. Please respect these dates. On items borrowed from libraries outside Hungary the slightest delay in return might greatly increase the loan fee.

Literature Search, On-line Search

With any questions or requests regarding bibliographies, literature search or any other issue, please feel free to contact the librarians, who will be happy to assist you.

Useful links

• National Széchényi Library - "Springboard"
  Links to National Libraries of Europe, National Libraries of the World

• Library Information in Hungary - HUNOPAC
  Holdings of all university and public libraries in Hungary

• List of libraries (in Hungarian - please ask the librarians to help you)

Assistance for Search in Other Libraries

If you wish to do research in other libraries of Budapest, one librarian can accompany you when you first visit the place and familiarize you with the regulations of that facility. Copies of "Guide to Hungarian Libraries" are available in the acquisition room.

Collection of Publications by Fellows

The Library of Collegium Budapest maintains a collection of the publications of all current and former fellows; we would appreciate your contribution to the collection of publications by fellows.

Hungarian Novel Collection

A collection of Hungarian novels is available for borrowing in the Club Room of Collegium Budapest's Raoul Wallenberg Guesthouse. The collection was purhased from the donation of former fellows Wim Gerritsen and Hans Franken who stayed at the Collegium in academic year 2003-04. This collection comprises the most important Hungarian novels transleted into English, German and French. For the list of these novels please click on http://www.colbud.hu/overview/HungarianNovels.

Your comments and suggestions about the Library and its services are welcome. Should you have any remark on the work of the Library Services, please do not hesitate to contact us directly.

We hope that our assistance will greatly contribute to the success of your research and makes your stay at the Collegium a memorable one.