Apáczai Csere János Library

Address: UA-90202, Berehove, Kossuth square 6.
Mailing Address: 90200 Berehove, mailbox 33., Transcarpathia, Ukraine
Phone: (+380-31-41)-2-28-96 / extension 120
Fax: (+380-31-41)-2-34-62
E-mail: konyvtarig@kmf.uz.ua

The Apáczai Csere János Library (hereinafter: the Library) is an educational, scientific, informational, and cultural subunit of the Ferenc Rakoczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian University (hereinafter: UR), and it is also part of the UR’s information center. The Library provides literature and other information for the educational and scientific-research activities of the UR. Since the UR is a non-state higher education institution in Ukraine, its library belongs to the category of a limited public library. Its status is regulated by the Law of Ukraine “On Libraries and Librarianship,” as well as the UR’s charter and internal regulations.

Brief History of the Library

The foundations of the library were laid in 1994, when Hungarian-language higher education began in Transcarpathia with an off-campus special training program from the Bessenyei György Teacher Training College of Nyíregyháza, at the request of the Charitable Foundation for the Transcarpathian Hungarian College (KMFA). Our first books and journals came from the founders (KMFA, the Transcarpathian Hungarian Pedagogical Association, and the Transcarpathian Hungarian Cultural Association). The library itself was housed in three rooms on the ground floor of a building rented from the Reformed Church of Berehove.

By 1996, when the Transcarpathian Hungarian Teacher Training College (legal successor: Ferenc Rakoczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian University) became independent, our library had already established its lending and reading room sections. Due to the dynamic increase in the student population, the three-room space became too small by 2002, creating obstacles not only for on-site reading but also for placing new documents for collection development. There was no rational possibility to change these unfortunate conditions within that building.

A qualitative leap in the library’s operation occurred in 2002 when the municipality of Berehove, a city with county rights, granted the college ownership of the former Bereg County Courthouse building on the city’s main square. In the spring of 2005, we began moving the entire library collection to the third level of the new educational building section. Based on a resolution of the Scientific Council of the Ferenc Rakoczi II Transcarpathian Hungarian University in September 2005, we took the name Apáczai Csere János Library. The official inauguration ceremony took place on October 27, 2005.

When the Higher Vocational Institution was established within the university in 2014, for which a new building wing was constructed, the library’s Periodicals Reading Room and Media Library section was moved there. In 2015, thanks to significant infrastructural developments in our campus’s inner courtyard, we divided the library’s previously unified lending section. Thus, the library’s two subunits, the specialized literature and the fiction lending sections, were moved from the third floor to the ground floor. Only the central reading room, the manuscript archive, and the acquisitions and publications processing department remained on the third level.

Since the general assemblies of Hungarian counties and city municipalities contributed to the renovation of our rooms, our sections’ rooms are named after them.

The Central Reading Room

It is located on the third level of the educational campus, in the room named after Vas County. It mainly houses single-copy documents, as well as reference books, data repositories, dictionaries, educational materials, maps, and atlases. Their number currently exceeds 22,000, and they are available on an open-shelf system. In the gallery section of the reading room, ten computers provide readers with the opportunity to process information immediately, and as of the 2021 calendar year, 22 digital databases are accessible on-site. A separate quiet reading section is located in the lower part of the room. The library also provides photocopying services for a fee to the readers of the department between 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM (Central European Time), without a lunch break.

The Specialized Literature Lending Section

This section is located on the ground floor, in the room named Pápa. Currently, it is the most dynamically expanding department, as more volumes are being moved into the lending category with the expansion of the core collection. As of June 30, 2020, its collection approached 40,000 volumes. This section also handles the processing of all documents, and it is where individuals affiliated with the institution can complete their reader registration. Primarily, textbooks and specialized books can be borrowed from this section.

The Fiction Lending Section

This section is also located on the ground floor, in the room named Békéscsaba. It is the newest department of the library. In addition to its continuously expanding document collection, its creation was also justified by the need to provide readers with open-shelf access and unrestricted browsing opportunities. Currently, the department’s collection exceeds 20,000 volumes. Although the majority of the department’s collection is in Hungarian, readers can also find books in Ukrainian, English, German, Italian, and French.

The Periodicals Reading Room and Media Library

This department was relocated in 2014 to the building wing used by the Higher Vocational Institution, where it is situated in room 104 on the ground floor. As its name suggests, this department performs multiple functions. The department’s collection is threefold: periodical publications in both the state and native languages, as well as a collection of auditory and audiovisual media. The periodical collection currently exceeds 35,000 document units, of which 71 titles are domestic (Ukrainian) subscriptions. We do not have foreign subscriptions, but through the cooperation of the Sapientia Hungariae Foundation, we regularly receive the following publications from Hungary: Esély, Filmvilág, Földgömb, Könyv-Könyvtár-Könyvtáros, Rubicon, Új Pedagógiai Szemle, Magyar Krónika, Magyar Nyelv, Magyar Nyelvőr.

In the age of the information society, it is essential for the library to provide opportunities beyond traditional, lecture-based educational methods and to offer tools that support technical demonstration for its readers, as well as for the institution’s teachers and students. The department’s technical equipment makes this possible. Its current resources include 2,991 digital (auditory and audiovisual) media carriers, a television set, VHS, CD, and DVD players, 10 + 2 reader computers with LED monitors, and a computer projector.

Manuscript Archive

This department is located on the third level, in the room named after Nógrád County. The collection includes all theses and diploma works written at the BSc, SSc, and MA levels during the university’s existence, as well as one manuscript copy of teachers’ dissertations. The manuscript format does not allow them to be loaned, but access for on-site use is provided for professional and scientific purposes.

Depository of Old Publications and Textbooks

This function is not managed as a separate department, as our available floor space no longer allows for it. Consequently, the old publications—now numbering 2,543 volumes—have been placed in lockable cabinets in the Vác lecture hall. These can be used under the same regulations as the main collection.

Institutional Electronic Library

Since 2013, we have been operating the institutional electronic library in the Calibre (ebook management) system. This is where textbooks, higher education aids, and specialized books of which we only have one copy, or no paper-based document at all but are essential for education, are uploaded. Currently, our E-library contains 1,040 documents, but this number grows almost daily due to continuous processing. According to Article 22 of the Law of Ukraine No. 3792-XII of December 23, 1993, “On Copyright and Related Rights,” the materials included in the digital library are published only for educational and scientific purposes, not for commercial use, and it is mandatory to cite the authors of the works in all cases. Further distribution of the full text of the documents is strictly prohibited.

Opening Hours (Central European Time)

The library currently uses an area of 580.20 m² in the building at Kossuth square 6 and has six departments:

• Central Reading Room
• Specialized Literature Lending
• Fiction Lending
• Periodicals Reading Room and Media Library
• Manuscript Archive
• Acquisitions and Publication Processing Department

We await our readers with a total of 137 seats distributed as follows:

• central reading room = 78
• periodicals reading room = 42
• fiction section = 9
• special collection = 8

In the two reading rooms, 22 computers are available to readers, providing access to 22 digital databases. Additionally, since 2013, the library has operated the institutional electronic library through the Calibre (ebook management) system.

Since its foundation, our library has cataloged its collection according to the UDC (Universal Decimal Classification) system. The book-based part of the collection has been fully processed, and our catalog is therefore accessible and searchable from anywhere in the world through the e-Corvina Integrated Library System.

Collection as of August 31, 2025

• The collection of the branch library (at the Higher Vocational Institution) is 3,714 units.
• The loanable part of the book collection: Approx. 63,985. The non-loanable part: Approx. 22,221.
• Our own domestic periodical /specialized journal and other/ subscription for the second half of 2025 amounts to 27 titles.