Open on weekdays from 9 to 16.
(Please, fix the time in advance.)

Collection interest
Main fields: nature conservation, ornithology
Supplementary: any publication in zoology, botany, geography related to nature conservation.

Collection book: 9,000+ volumes
foreign periodicals: 950 titles (325 running titles) (ca. 18,000 volumes)
Hungarian periodicals: 120 titles (61 running titles) (ca. 2,400 volumes)
research reports: 1,500

Publication for exchange
AQUILA (annual)

Catalogues, databases
Books, journals and research reports may be searched in the library’s catalogue.
The contents of Hungarian periodicals may be searched in the MATARKA database online.
It is possible to locate foreign periodicals in Hungarian libraries in the National Periodical Database (NPD).

Borrowing
Books and periodicals may only be used in the library. There is no borrowing.

Photocopying
It is possible to make photocopies.


Users of the library
The library is dedicated to the enhancement of the work of the ministry and that of national parks.
It has a collection of books and periodicals which is unique in East-Central Europe, therefore not only the civil servants working in the field of nature conservation are allowed to use the library, but also researchers, institutions, studetns, members of NGOs dealing with nature conservation or ornithology, as well as cultural institutions, enterpreneurs involved in nature conservation, and others interested in conservation or zoology. The library thus serves research and education in the field of ornithology and nature conservation as well as the practice of conservation.

The library is the successor of the reference library of the Institute of Ornithology founded by Ottó Hermann in 1894.

Its history is closely related to such famous ornithologists like Titusz Csörgey, Albert Vertse, Jakab Schenk, Kálmán Warga and András Keve who, being directors or researchers of the institute, were active in the development of the library’s collection. The book and journal collection, highly appreciated at the turn of the 19th and 20th century and before World War 2, was distroyed during the bombings of 1944.

It was recovered mainly from the donations of Hungarian and foreign research institutes, universities, societies and private persons. The merit of this goes to András Keve, the last internationally acknowledged representative of Hungarian ornithology, who had excellent international relations. By the early 1970s he managed to establish an ornithological library which still constitutes the core of the collection.

In 1997 the book collection of Birdlife Hungary was also incorporated in the library, and their publications ORNIS HUNGARICA and TÚZOK have been used for exchange.

The yearbook AQUILA, published by the Ornithological Institute (now Deputy State Secretariat for Nature Conservation and Environment Protection, Ministry of Rural Development), plays a decisive role in the development and operation of the library, which is sent to many countries all over the world in exchange for foreign periodicals. There are 300 running titles in the library most of which come in exchange.

The 18th-19th century collection of the library is invalueable from the point of view of the history of ornithology.