The ELTE University Library and Archives offers extended opening hours for readers and students on weekdays and Saturdays between the 1st of December 2025 and the 17th of January 2026 until 22.00 hours. Our community space offers the opportunity to learn, relax, use kitchen facilities and free computer access.

Through our constantly expanding services, we aim to provide ELTE students with an efficient and effective learning opportunity, with the support of the Students' Union and in cooperation with the students.

The following services are available between 20.00 and 22.00 on weekdays and between 18.00 and 22.00 on Saturdays:

• study and reading in the Reading Hall, use of computers in the ground floor community room, access to kitchen equipment (fridge, microwave, hot and cold water and soda dispenser) in the community room kitchen,
• picking up books requested online during the day from the pickup locker and borrowing them through the self-lending terminal
• returning books using the smart shelf,
• self-service printing and photocopying using a pre-purchased card,
• free self-service scanning.

During the extended opening hours, reception and general information is provided. The lobby, the Reading Hall and the community space are open to the public only with a pre-purchased library card.

Everyone is welcome and we wish all our students a successful semester and exam period!

The ELTE University Library and Archives will be closed on Friday, 28 November 2025 due to a university event.

From Saturday (29 November 2025), we will welcome our readers according to the usual opening hours.

Due to scheduled server maintenance, the University Library Service’s central online platforms will be unavailable from 8:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 9, 2025, until early morning the following day.

The downtime will affect the following services:

• EDIT – ELTE Digital Institutional Repository

• ELTEfind online catalogue (the old catalogue will remain available for searching)

• GIMIfind online catalogue

• ELTE Library WebApp

Please note that due to the WebApp outage, online credit card payments will also be temporarily unavailable during the maintenance period.

Thank you for your understanding and patience.

We are pleased to inform our esteemed researchers that, as of 13 October 2025, our special collections will once again be accessible, with the exception of the manuscript collections and 18th-century documents.

The Reading Room, along with the available library and archival services, is open on weekdays between 9:00 AM and 7:30 PM.

For further information, please follow the updates on our website.

Our historic storeroom is temporarily closed to visitors.

Thank you for your understanding!

As part of the Autumn Festival of Museums, between 13 October and 7 November 2025, we invite lovers of science and books to our varied programmes.

Our guests can take part in guided tours of the restoration workshop, library and university history, during which visitors can discover some old books. All visitors are welcome to attend the event series!

Detailed programme plan:

Restoration workshop

Guided by our restorer, guests can get a taste of paper-casting and bookbinding techniques. They will learn about the process of book disinfection and old bookbinding techniques.

Programme dates:

• 15 October 2025 (Wednesday) 10:00–11:00
• 15 October 2025 (Wednesday) 17:00–18:00
• 17 October 2025 (Friday) 10:00–11:00
• 17 October 2025 (Friday) 17:00–18:00
• 22 October 2025 (Wednesday) 10:00–11:00
• 22 October 2025 (Wednesday) 17:00–18:00
• 5 November 2025 (Wednesday) 10:00–11:00
• 5 November 2025 (Wednesday) 17:00–18:00
• 7 November 2025 (Friday) 10:00–11:00
• 7 November 2025 (Friday) 17:00–18:00

Library tour

On our library tours you can learn about the history of the ELTE University Library and Archives.

Programme dates:

• 13 October 2025 (Monday) 17:00–18:00
• 20 October 2025 (Monday) 17:00–18:00
• 27 October 2025 (Monday) 17:00–18:00
• 3 November 2025 (Monday) 17:00–18:00

Books, robes, science – University history exhibition

Our mini exhibition „Book, Robe, Science – Symbols from the history of Eötvös Loránd University” presents the major turning points in the history of Eötvös Loránd University, with the help of memorabilia from the University Library and Archives.

Through symbols, our guests can follow the development of the Jesuit-founded institution serving Catholic education, from its transformation into a state and royal university to the 300th anniversary of its foundation. After the university reform in 1949, many traditions were ceased to be practised and the related representative objects were transferred to museums. The fate of these objects in the 20th and 21st centuries is explored in the virtual space of the exhibition. The exhibition is open on weekdays between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. Registration is available at titkarsag@lib.elte.hu or by calling +36 30 202 3382 or +36 1 411 6738. All visitors are welcome!

Programme available online:

Virtual Autumn Walks in the ELTE University Library and Archives (continuously available online programme).

Photo, audio and video recordings will be made of the events. The recordings will be published on the websites, publications, forums and social media of the participating institutions.

Due to the Cultural Heritage Day, the library services of the ELTE University Library and Archives will be inaccessible on Saturday, on the 20th of September 2025. Everyone is welcome to join our programmes starting at 10.00.

For more information, please, visit our homepage or the official website of Cultural Heritage Days. All visitors are welcome!

The ELTE University Library and Archives will be closed on 17 September 2025 (Wednesday) due to technical reasons.

From 18 September 2025 we will be open as usual.

Thank you in advance for your understanding.

On the occasion of Cultural Heritage Days, harpist Klára Bábel will give a concert with cellist Árpád Amirás on September 20, 2025, at 4 p.m. at the ELTE University Library and Archives. The concert will feature works by Boccherini, Leoncavallo, Charpentier, Schubert, Mendelssohn, and Paganini.

Klára Bábel began her musical studies with the piano, and at the age of 12 she was accepted to the preparatory course at the Liszt Academy of Music. In 2007 she was admitted to the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Brussels, and in 2008 she was awarded a special prize at the 4th Vera Dulova Harp Competition in Moscow. In 2010 she was awarded the Artisjus Prize, in 2010, 2011 and 2013 she was also awarded the Annie Fischer Scholarship for Musical Performing Arts. In 2009 she won a trial with the MÁV Symphony Orchestra and in 2010 with the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 2024, she completed her doctoral studies at the Liszt Academy of Music and began her Master of Arts in Music Instruction at ELTE. She has participated in several master classes in Paris, Moscow and Nice. She regularly performs solo and chamber concerts in Hungary. In 2004 she gave a recital at Christie's auction house in London and in 2011 at the National Music University of Bucharest. Since 2013, she has been working with the Slovakian Quasars Ensemble in Bratislava and Kassa. In 2015 they won 1st prize in the chamber music category at the VII International Marcel Tournier Harp Competition with László Zalán Kovács, tuba player, and were finalists at the Concorso Internazionale di Musica Marco Fiorindo International Chamber Music Competition. In 2017, on the Festival Bach for All she was awarded the Festival Prize. Since 2011 she has been artistic director of the Sounds of Babel concerts. The concerts not only introduce the audience to solo harp literature, but also to the world of jazz, where the audience can hear a truly colourful repertoire in collaboration with outstanding artists.

Amirás Árpád was born in Budapest, where he also completed his musical studies. He was a student of Miklós Perényi at the Academy of Music, and later played in the Radio Orchestra alongside his high school teacher, Zsolt Puskás. He has been the Radio Orchestra's principal cellist since 2019. In addition, he has played in chamber orchestras for many years. He is a regular performer in both the domestic and international music scene.

Venue: ELTE University Library and Archives, 1053 Budapest, Ferenciek tere 6, Reading Hall

Date: September 20, 2025, 16:00–17:00 a.m.

For more information, please, visit our homepage or the official website of Cultural Heritage Days. All visitors are welcome!

As part of Cultural Heritage Days, we will once again open the doors of our library to the public on Saturday, September 20, 2025. We would like to draw attention to the protection of our cultural heritage with guided tours of the library, calligraphy and bookbinding workshops, restoration workshop, film screenings, an exhibition on academic scholars, an exhibition on the history of the university, folk dance performances, as well as harp and cello concert.

This year's program series begins at 10:00 a.m. with a performance by the ELTE Eötvös Art Ensemble folk dance group. Our chamber exhibition, opening on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, presents the documents and careers of three outstanding scholars, Ferenc Toldy, Sándor Szilágyi, and Loránd Eötvös, who played an important role in the history of the University, the University Library, and the Academy. As part of our series of events, harpist Klára Bábel and cellist Árpád Amirás will give a concert for music lovers. Under the title Architecture on the Silver Screen, you can gain insight into the hidden secrets of walls through the films and discussions of Kossuth and Béla Balázs award-winning film director György Szomjas. On the occasion of the Jókai Memorial Year, our event will be enriched with a Jókai quiz, puzzles and bookmark coloring. You can find the detailed program here and on the official website of Cultural Heritage Days. All visitors are welcome!

Photo, audio and video recordings will be made of the events. The recordings will be published on the websites, publications, forums and social media of the participating institutions.