In addition to its traditional responsibilities, the University and National Library of the University of Debrecen regards modernization and the establishment of even broader accessibility through expanding online spaces to be the most important of its future objectives.
Obviously, progress and revival should never stop, as the demands of the so-called Gnereation Z make it imperative to expand the already available online functions. Recently, 1400 patrons have been polled to figure out what they consider essential and how they imagine the library of the future.
“This survey could prompt a virtual dialog, as a result of which we can assess the ideas and suggestions coming in and re-design our range of services accordingly. In addition to the traditional learning and research activities pursued individually, there seems to be an increasing demand today for the introduction of group-based workstations, which we do not have yet. Furthermore, there is also some interest in using rest and entertainment possibilities on site for the purposes of recreation, for example, during the examination period. Naturally, we should be prepared for these needs as well,” said Director-General Gyöngyi Karácsony about the results of the online questionnaire survey.
So, we may anticipate to find more self-service-type facilities provided by the university library in the future, including a coffee lounge, a music room and a meditation area, or even venues available for group work, thus complying with the new trends and demands generated by the acceleration of development. You can check out further interesting details about the findings of the survey at http://www.lib.unideb.hu/hu/tereink.
The popularity of DEENK has been growing steadily and, in May 2017, the number of its users has reached 10 thousand which, incidentally, is the same figure as what the institution had started out with for number of volumes in stock way back in 1918 as the library of Debreceni Magyar Királyi Tudományegyetem [Debrecen Hungarian Royal University].
“The basic tasks that are related to our function as a university library have not changed substantially. What has been transformed through the years is, in fact, what follows the development of the nature of instruction and research at the university. The documents we hold have undergone changes with respect to their quality, quantity and format, and we have also accommodated to these changes as a matter of course,” said Gyöngyi Karácsony to unideb.hu. The Director-General of the library added that their chief effort would have a focus on establishing new online collections and expanding the already available databases which allow virtual access without any spatial or temporal restrictions to a significant portion of information sources indispensable for academic activities.
The large number of users is definitely an indication of how the effect of the changes is rather positive than negative, which may also be due to the fact that library use has been made free for all students and staff at the university as of the present academic term.
“In fact, it is the borrowing part that has become free of charge, because possibilities for browsing, reading on the premises, and getting information from our staff used to be freely available even before. You did not need to be a registered member in order to have access to these services and we never even charged anything for them when rendered. Apart from these, university folks could and also will be able to use electronic sources of information as well as databases and periodicals on the premises for free,” said the Director-General.
The university library today offers numerous modern services in addition to the traditionally available on-site reading and borrowing, which are accessible to patrons from all over the world. It operates in a triple quality: as a library catering for higher education academic requirements, also one with a national pool of collections, and even as an institution open for the general public at as many as 7 locations situated on 5 different campuses of the university, geographically close to the various fields of science and scholarship centers they serve.
Press Office, unideb.hu
