From the 2026 budget audit
Libraries and archives preserve what cannot be rebuilt — but can earn more of what they spend.
A 22.9 milliárd Ft subsidy for the national library and archive system, held flat while the institutions grow the 21% they already self-finance.
Roughly 5,721 Ft per taxpayer per year — 22.9 milliárd Ft net of 4.8 milliárd Ft in earned revenue the system already generates.
What you see — and what you don't
The seen: libraries and archives holding the physical record — documents, publications, and collections that cannot be reconstituted if lost. The unseen: the real-terms erosion a nominal freeze quietly applies, giving institutions the incentive to grow digitisation income and access fees rather than always expecting a larger state transfer.
Objection
"Libraries serve the public free of charge — you can't expect them to earn their keep."
Answer
A nominal freeze does not require free access to end. It means the subsidy does not rise while the institutions find new earned income through digitisation services, research access, and commercial licensing — income that the 21% self-financing ratio shows is already available and growing.
Share if you think public libraries should be sustainable, not just subsidised.
The analyst's verdict
Public Collections (Libraries and Archives)
Rationale
The national library and archive system performs a preservation and custody function on the same logic as the national museum — physical records and the published record held in trust, not reconstitutable if lost. Nominal freeze on the same reasoning: the preservation duty is real and places the line outside an Immediate Cut, but expansion is unwarranted and real-terms discipline is appropriate. The 4,807.5 millió Ft of own-revenue (roughly 21% of expenditure) is the margin to grow.
Transition mechanism
Hold the 22,882.2 millió Ft nominal; absorb cost growth; expand own-revenue and digitisation-related income.
Affected groups
Library and archive staff (no displacement); users; the preservation duty (protected).
Free Society Institute
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