Andrea Pető  

associate professor, CEU Department of Gender Studies  

There are collections born under a lucky star that ensure deserved place for goods entrusted to them due to their institutional and structural conditions.
The Sociology Collection of Ervin Szabó Library has to meet the requirementsrising to divers challenges in more and more difficult circumstances.
Now, I would like to write about part of its collection dealing with and focusing on social genders and sexuality.
Historic material as the documents of the Association of Feminists  having been collected since the turn of the century are the bases of this collection Gathering of volumes related to social genders came up against some difficulties  in the last few decadesstillthe keepers of the collection try to do their best  performing their professional tasks to help readers. 

The first difficulty was that volumes from abroad became parts of the collection in ad hoc way before 1989. After 1989, we had to face not only economical difficulties,  but  quantity explosion of books and periodicals written about  the issue of  social genders.
Nowadaysall publishers who have expectations of themselves (have any ambition to meet present-day requirements) provide at least one series concerning social genders; range of successful publishers specialized to this group of issues, exclusively. Sothe viewpoint of choosing and selecting ariseswhat to purchase from the ample supply in narrow circumstances.

The second challenge is digital revolution.
T
hsignificant periodicals, which are really necessary to cultivate sciences, are so expensive that even the richest American private universities decrease the number of periodical subscriptions. However, most of the periodicals are available in subscription packs, so, if a periodical is not subscribed, several other periodicals become unavailable. 
The third challenge is institutional background. On the other side of Iron Curtain and on the territory of past Yugoslavia female civil organizations were developed during the second wave of woman movements to document women’s history and develop woman’s library
WINE – European network of librariesarchivesinformation centres and web portals specializing in genderfeminist and women's research. In the list there is only one female civil organizationit has no public library and its domain is for sale. 
Several works have been written by many authors about the reason why lack of female civil organizations took place  in Hungary, but from the viewpoint of our theme the important thing is that  Ervin Szabó Library as capital institution fulfilled tasks which were done  by civil organizations with the financial source of competitions and self-governments.

Mainly informal contacts, established by professional devotioncompetency and attitude of the staff of Ervin Szabó Library, were developed between Hungarian researchers and civil organizations of social genders; this system  of informal  contacts tried to overcome the challenges listed above in the economical conditions getting harder.
As a results of  cutback of European welfare states, woman’s libraries and documentation centers are closed, one after the other,  they are integrated and financial supports are taken away.

The text of European protest against this process including the closing of NIKK can be read on the website of ATGENDER  (https://atgender.eu/) 
The history of Ervin Szabó Library is not free from political and economical storms; however, we have to hope that the knowledge material accumulated in previous period will be available to studentsresearchers (and all who are interested in it) for a long time.  Informal connections arenecessary against institutional destructionbut only institutions are able to develop such contacts From this point of viewwe can say that the Sociology Collection of Ervin Szabó Library is an institution born under a lucky star. 
Information

Sociology Collection

1088 Budapest, Szabó Ervin tér 1.
Go to
Opening hours
    Today 10:00-20:00
    Tomorrow: 10:00-20:00
    Detailed

E-mail: szociologia@fszek.hu
Phone number:
(1) 411-5031
Manager: Kerékgyártó Ágnes
Head of department
Beiratkozás

Registration for natural and legal persons:
free of charge / 12 months
Administration fee of registration reader card:
HUF 400 / 12 months

Daily card: HUF 1650 / day

Borrowing privileges in one library:
HUF 7800 / 12 months
HUF 5400 / 6 months
HUF 4000 / 3 months

Establishment of membership for using all branches simultaneously:
HUF 10000 / 12 months
HUF 7700 / 6 months

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