The Library of the Hungarian Parliament is the library for legislators, while also operating as a national public reference library.
Main collecting areas:
- law,
- political science,
- Hungarian history and modern world history, as well as
- foreign parliamentary documents,
- Documents of the National Assembly.
The staff members provide information on
- library use, catalogues, computer databases,
- the holdings of the Library,
- the basic methods and aids of literature research,
- specialized literature.
The library collects and processes the Hungarian literature on these topics to the maximum possible extent, while collecting and processing a selection of foreign literature. Our library holds the most complete public collection of Hungarian parliamentary documents.
In addition to the listed areas, the library collects literature on economics, sociology and statistics, as well as foreign parliamentary documents. The Library of the Hungarian Parliament is the UN depository library and some of its specialised agencies, as well as of the European Union. It collects the official publications of these institutions, as well as the domestic and foreign literature related to them. The library’s holdings comprise over 600,000 volumes, which are augmented annually by 3,500-4,000 volumes. Readers can browse through 50,000 volumes of the reference collection on 1,500 metres of shelves. The reference library has documents classified into 14 professional areas and thematic groups. Documents, with the exception of publications placed on the open-shelf section, must be requested by users from the library warehouses.
Located in the large reading room, to the left of the entrance is the section designated for periodicals, which contains earlier, already bound volumes of periodicals of the most sought-after areas, as well as up-to-date issues of daily and weekly newspapers and periodicals both domestic and foreign.
The library’s online catalogue and press database are fully available on its website. These are complemented by several subscribed online databases specialised in the social sciences.
If you would like to use online reference services, you are welcome to use our Ask a librarian service!