The Doctoral Program in Library and Information Science

“The center of library and information science (LIS) research in Hungary is the Institute of Library and Information Science at the Faculty of Humanities of Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) and its Doctoral Program in Library and Information Science. The institute offers a full range of higher education programs (a bachelor’s, master’s, teacher training and a doctoral training program) and has the largest number of students and university teachers in Hungary in the field of library and information science. It is a scholarly community conducting interdisciplinary research, with researchers and tutors recognized as members of a European research university with a long history (established in 1635). It has an extensive network of scholarly research partners within the university and with domestic and international professional partners. The first doctoral comprehensive examination was held in 1958 at the first university training center for librarians, founded here in the spring of 1949. József Antall, Hungary’s first freely elected prime minister after the change of regime, also obtained his doctoral degree here in 1969. The transformation of the educational system to the Bologna model began in Hungary with the introduction of PhD programs. In 1997, the Doctoral Program in Library Science, now known as the Doctoral Program in Library and Information Science, was accredited at one of the country’s largest doctoral schools, the Doctoral School of Literary Studies at Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest).

The objectives of the doctoral program in LIS, which is unique in Hungary, are: (1) to ensure the supply of new researcher librarians, information specialists and researchers; (2) to raise the competencies of library and knowledge management staff to an academic level; (3) to identify new research directions that offer professional development and international connections; (4) to provide a research infrastructure for research studies; (5) to disseminate research results; (6) to provide research-based practical solutions to support the modern operation of libraries and other memory institutions.

The main research topics of the doctoral program are: history of books, libraries, and the press; history and theory of information; bibliographic description and knowledge organization; trends in reading; analysis of social processes in the development of information and communication; multifunctional (smart) library services; library management; library informatics; artificial intelligence; information ethics; equal opportunities; network research and development and business-oriented information organization; development of financial literacy; information management, etc. Research conducted here is related to all of the subfields of library and information science, the latest innovations, and the countless strategic trends of the knowledge society. Our doctoral program, which has been running for nearly three decades, supports the advancement of doctoral students with a commitment to the humanities and a broad spectrum of literary and cultural studies.

The founding head of the Doctoral Program in Library and Information Science was Krisztina Voit, associate professor, between 1997 and 2000, followed by György Sebestyén, full professor, who led the program until 2013. Since then, Péter Kiszl, full professor, has been the head of the doctoral program. The supervisors of the doctoral program to date are: Barátné Hajdu, Ágnes; Bényei, Miklós; Bibor, Máté; Bobokné Belányi, Beáta; Csík, Tibor; Dippold, Péter; Fodor, János; Gereben, Ferenc; Horváth, Péter; Horváth, Tibor; Kiszl, Péter; Pálvölgyi, Mihály; P. Vásárhelyi, Judit; Sebestyén, György; Szelle, Béla; Tószegi, Zsuzsanna; Tóvári, Judit; V. Ecsedy, Judit; Voit, Krisztina. The list of tutors teaching courses in the doctoral program is, of course, much longer than this.

In 2024, the fiftieth library and information science doctoral defense took place, and at the time of writing, we are closer to sixty defended dissertations. To date, altogether fifty-seven researchers have obtained their LIS doctoral degrees within this program: Alföldiné Dán, Gabriella; Bella, Katalin; Boda Gáborné Köntös, Nelli; Bognárné Lovász, Katalin; Bouaamri, Asmaa; Bujdosóné Dani, Erzsébet; Czeglédi, László; Dippold, Péter; Domokos, Áron; Dudás, Anikó; Egervári, Dóra; Fodor, János; Gyurcsó, Júlia; Hubay, Miklós Péter; Juhász, Éva; Kelecsényi, Ágnes; Kerekes, Pál; Keszthelyi, András; Kiszl, Péter; Kovács, Valéria; László, Gézáné; Lencsés, Ákos; Lengyelné Molnár, Tünde; Lupkovicsné Major, Edit; Murányi, Péter; Nagy, Andor; Nagy, Enikő; Nagyné Mandl, Erika; Nemes, László; Németh, Katalin; Orbán, Anna; Otike, Frederick Wawire; Pajor, Enikő; Pallósiné Toldi, Márta; Palotai, Mária; Papp, József; Patkósné Hanesz, Andrea; Perger, Péter; Pogányné Rózsa, Gabriella; Prókai, Margit; Ráczné Radó, Rita; Rétfalvi, Gábor; Rózsa, Gábor; Sajó, Andrea Ildikó; Senkei-Kis, Zoltán; Sipos, Anna Magdolna; Sonnevend, Péter; Szüts, Gergely Etele; Tóth, Máté; Varga, Katalin; Vasas, Lívia; Vass, Anna Johanna; Vántsa, Judit; Vörös, Klára; Winkler, Beáta; Zagorec-Csuka, Judit; Zsömle, Viktor. Further information is available on the website of the National Doctoral Council (https://doktori.hu).

The past two years have been particularly fruitful for the doctoral program, which is now proud to have one of the largest student populations in the faculty. These two years have also been significant because our first foreign students have also defended their doctoral theses successfully. The program has become international, with many foreign students from distant parts of the world studying here together with Hungarian students. One of the driving forces behind this internationalization is the Stipendium Hungaricum Scholarship Program. In addition to foreign students, renowned international scholars are also involved in the program. In the fall semester of the 2024/2025 academic year, Ragnar Andreas Audunson (Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway) taught as a visiting professor and conducted research at our institute and in the doctoral program with the support of the University Excellence Fund. In addition, guest lecturers from European (e.g., Greece, Spain) and non-European countries (e.g., Thailand, Malaysia) have also visited us, mainly supported by the Erasmus exchange program. With the help of the Erasmus program, our PhD students can go on study trips and thus enhance the international embedding of their dissertation research.

Ragnar Andreas Audunson (Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway)  as a visiting professor

In addition to their domestic recognition, the Institute of Library and Information Science and the Doctoral Program also play a significant role in shaping international research activity and have a considerable influence on international academic life in the field of library and information science. Our publications regularly receive university and faculty awards, and our supervisors with their doctoral students frequently publish in the most prestigious D1/Q1 SJR Scopus-rated journals. In addition, we publish in other foreign and domestic journals too, and we participate in the preparation of international handbooks in our field. We are active members of editorial boards, advisory boards, review committees, etc. of national and international professional journals. We also take part actively in the work of professional organizations. We are regular participants at conferences both within Hungary and abroad, and we also organize domestic and international professional events. Our conference series entitled ‘Real Library – Library Reality’, was founded in 2013, and has been organized every two years, lately with international participants, too. The conference series, together with its related series of edited volumes, have become international, containing presentations and studies by foreign experts as well in English. We publish reports of our results on our website (https://lis.elte.hu), and our scholarly research output is shown in international scientometric systems as well as in the Hungarian Science Bibliography (MTMT).

We hope that the interview series launched in the Central European Library and Information Science Review (CeLISR) journal will also demonstrate that the doctoral students at Eötvös Loránd University support the library system and the emerging issues librarians need to face with scientifically grounded solutions. As ‘universitas’, the university does not only bring together all of the disciplines, but also students, teachers, researchers and, of course, employers, who require practical knowledge (in our case, mainly in libraries and information institutions). Within the framework of its third mission, it even brings together society as a whole. The pursuit of science does not usually end with the award of a doctoral degree; in fact, it is only just the beginning. We invite our readers to get involved in shaping science, for example by contributing research ideas or even by joining the sparkling and cohesive ELTE community, to conduct research under the guidance of a supervisor as a doctoral student and to produce new scientific results. This exceptional series of interviews, which is a continuously growing record, faithful reflection, and herald of library and information science research at Eötvös Loránd University and in Hungary, can also serve as inspiration for this.”

Kiszl, P. (2025) The cradle of library and information science in Hungary, Central European Library and Information Science Review (CELISR), 2(3), p. 347–349.

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Current trends in library and information science in the light of PhD research and studies

1. Interview with Etele Szüts
2. Interview with Bea Winkler
3. Interview with Viktor Zsömle
4. Interview with Fredrick Wawire Otike
5. Interview with Andor Nagy
6. Interview with László Nemes
7. Interview with Rita Radó
8. Interview with Judit Váncsa

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The Doctoral School of Literary Studies

Application

Stipendium Hungaricum Scholarship