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The Library of KTI - its full name is the KTI Non-profit Ltd's Documentation and Information Centre - is a national library in the field of transport, with a library stock as large as 60 thousand library units, serving not only specialists in this field but all Hungarian citizens.

The history of the Library

The first predecessor of KTI was established in 1938 by the minister for trade and transport affairs, under the name of the National Automobile Experimental Station. Since the first days the original library stock was enlarged day by day.

After the foundation of a true scientific institute (ATUKI) circulation of journals and translation of foreign language materials, manuals, articles became more and more important in the formation of the young Hungarian specialists.

Some decades later studies, measurements and inspections of roads and bridges were added to the purely vehicle technical profile, and the library collection followed this trend. The activities covered by the institute have grown continually and now include such areas as transport safety, traffic engineering, transport policy, environmental protection, passenger and goods transportation, transport by water and air, network planning and transport economics. For many years KTI Library played a significant role in the formation of VOLÁN and other transport related trade union libraries, including their staff's training. Until 1990 VOLÁN libraries and smaller trade union libraries were liquidated, dissolved, and KTI lost their leadership.

Since 1991 it was again the KTI Library who managed the infrastructure development for all huge Hungarian transport related libraries in two cycles: as a result, library automation systems were installed in these libraries, and a joint data base was installed and functioning for many years in the main building of the Transport Ministry, serving the Hungarian decision makers in transport.

Nowadays the KTI Library - besides all its traditional services - builds a computer catalog using the HUNTÉKA library automation system (the third and best such system during the last 18 years), publishes DIK Hírlevél (= News of the Documentation and Information Centre), edits Annual Report about KTI's activities in two languages every year, and stimulates research by selective dissemination of information, preparing citation lists and bibliographies as needed.