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Manager Marta Ilgevičienė
Tel. + 370 5 239 8645
Fax + 370 5 249 6055
E-mail: issnltu@lnb.lt
At the end of 1993, an agreement was signed between the Director of the International ISSN Centre Ms. S. Santiago and the Director of Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania Mr. V. Bulavas resulting in the establishment of Lithuanian ISSN Agency as a unit of the Centre of Bibliography and Book Science of the National Library. It was assigned the task to administer the ISSN system of Lithuania.
Until 1991, allocation of ISSNs to serials, issued in Lithuania, was carried out by the All-Union Book Chamber in Moscow. Political changes and restoration of state independence enabled Lithuania to join the international ISSN community. The Lithuanian ISSN Agency was the first national ISSN centre in the former Soviet Union to be assigned the ISSN Centre code-38 and the country code ‘ltu’.
The ISSN agency started functioning at the beginning of 1994, when it began allocating ISSNs to serials, published in Lithuania. National serial publications are being registered exclusively at the Lithuanian ISSN Agency. ISSN assignment is regulated by ‘The Law on Provision Information to the Public’ adopted in 1996 (revised edition of 2006). Article 36 of the Law states that: - Each publication shall indicate its circulation, other publishing data specified by the Lithuanian standard, and the international standard number of the document (ISBN, ISSN, ISMN, and others).
- The Government shall determine the number of mandatory copies of all publications (including electronic ones) which must be handed over to libraries free of charge.
Since 2001 the Lithuanian ISSN Agency has been performing software-based calculation of digits for ISSN barcodes.
The number of serial publications, issued in Lithuania, is increasing every year. In 2007, the numbers of legal deposit copies of periodicals, newspapers and other publications (journals, annuals, catalogues, statistical publications, etc.) amounted respectively to 952, 512 and 1030. Due to effective application of provisions of the Law and co-operation of the ISSN agency with EAN Lithuania and press distribution companies, the majority of them have been assigned ISSNs. Every year the Agency assigns approximately 300 ISSNs and ISSN-based barcodes to serials. Data about them is regularly supplied to the ISSN Register, which has been accessible on the Internet (ISSN Portal) since 1998. The list of serials and the assigned ISSNs is presented in the annual index ‘Bibliografijos žinios’ (The Bibliographical News). Information on the newest serials and their ISSNs is also introduced in the weekly ‘Ekspresinformacija apie naujus spaudinius, išėjusius Lietuvoje’ (Express Information on the Latest Publications Issued in Lithuania).
The key institution providing comprehensive and up-to-date information about publishers of national serials is the Centre of Bibliography and Book Science, which receives mandatory legal deposit copies and performs their bibliographic control.
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