A young librarian’s career development: personal notes from Hungary

Presents a personal view of a typical librarian’s career in contemporary Hungary. For a deeper understanding of the country’s peculiar circumstances, a more detailed overview is given about the position, general state and financial conditions of Hungarian libraries, their loss as attractive places of employment and the declining social status of the librarian. The causes that lie behind this are briefly discussed as well as the librarian’s view of possible solutions. A scheme and short explanation of Hungarian librarian training is followed by the author’s personal example. Helped by favourable factors while a student and later as an employee at a prestigious library, she is now the information officer of an international organization in Budapest and is actively involved in promoting international ties for Hungarian librarians.