Educating Hungarian medical librarians in special literature

In Hungary the completion of a thirty-month course is required of those who wish to qualify as medium-level librarians. Medical librarians are given a special course which differs from the general course in that it covers the subjects of medical terminology and information in special literature. The latter subject is accorded the highest number of teaching hours, since the subject matter is vast and since, in addition to theory, much time must be spent on exercises and the presentation of reference books. The students become familiar with the main Hungarian and foreign information systems in the medical and related fields and with special bibliographies, encyclopedias, handbooks, and dictionaries. We take special care to familiarize students with the abstracting journals and indices. For several semesters they have homework and lesson exercises in the use of the Hungarian Medical Bibliography and Index Medicus.