Pál Vásárhelyi

He began his career as an electrical engineer at the Beloiannisz Telecommunications Factory (BHG), then at the Telecommunications Industrial Research Institute (HIKI). His interest soon turned to libraries, professional documentation management, and text retrieval. He became an employee of the Technical Information Institute of the Ministry of Metallurgy and Mechanical Industry. He has published numerous publications in the field of computerization of library work and the efficient operation of documentation centers.

He became a candidate of economic sciences in 1971.

His language skills (English, French, German, Spanish, Russian) and his professional achievements in sports have led to numerous international contacts. This led to him preparing a feasibility study for a computerized registration system for the UNESCO Directorate for Social Sciences, which was accepted and a Hungarian team was entrusted with its design and programming. After the successful implementation of the system, called DARE, he became a department head in the General Information Program Department at the Paris headquarters of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) from 1977 to 1985.

Upon his return home, he continued his career as a senior research fellow at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (MTA SZTAKI). He won the position of director general of the BME Central Library in 1992 through a competition. He retired from there in 2001. His activities at UNESCO did not stop in the meantime. Until his death, he was a member of the Hungarian UNESCO Committee's Infocommunications Subcommittee and took part in various international projects.