Prof. Dr. Andrius Vaišnys, Chair of the National Library’s Scientific Council

The Martynas Mažvydas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania celebrates its centenary. On 14 November, the Library hosted the centennial afternoon titled “Life Library”. Among the guests of the event there were His Excellency the President of the Republic of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda, members of the Seimas and the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, Ambassadors to the Republic of Lithuania, honorary social, research, cultural and education figures, publishers and the National Libraries partners and fellows.

Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania invites you to attend a solo exhibition of paintings by Mykolė titled “Five Regions” dedicated to Lithuanian landscapes featuring artworks that convey the subtleties of different landscape settings and the change of seasons. The series of artworks that depict the country’s different regions will be exhibited at the same time thus Lithuania will be represented as a unified whole encompassing differences, unique features and natural beauty in general through the lens of contrasts, otherness and diversity.

On the occasion of its centenary, the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania is organizing an international research conference. At the conference’s main session, Luiz Oosterbeek, Professor at the Polytechnic Institute of Tomar, Portugal and Secretary-General of the International Council of Philosophy and Human Sciences (CIPSH) UNESCO, France, will share his insights and experience regarding critical reasoning and flexibility; Liz Jolly, Chief Librarian of the British Library will speak about collaborating to advance knowledge and mutual understanding among librarians, partners and leaders; and Dr. Jānis Krēsliņš, Senior Academic Librarian for Research Affairs at the National Library of Sweden, will be giving the presentation “Memory in a Time of Digital Inattentiveness: an Institutional Perspective”.

The Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania invites you to watch a story of a young Ukrainian woman, who went looking for her father, who had fallen in the Russian-Ukrainian war, and turned into a warrior’s daughter.

On October 9, an international scientific seminar “Experiences of Documentary Heritage Research and Dissemination in European Libraries” will take place in Vilnius, Lithuania. The event is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania. Researchers and scientists from Great Britain, Poland, Latvia, Belarus and Lithuania will present their papers.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, the exhibition “Verba Volant, Scripta Manent” displays the most valuable, interesting, and significant 14th-21st-century books, manuscripts, maps, photographs, sheet music, and shellac records. Many objects on display are included in the UNESCO Lithuanian National Memory of the World Registry.

Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania invites you to the “Conductor with a Brush” – an exhibition of children's book Illustrations by Kęstutis Kasparavičius. The exhibition was organized on the occasion of the international conference "Visual Language in Children's Literature". The conference is organized by the National Library together with the Lithuanian Branch of the International Association of Children and Youth Literature (IBBY) as part of the Reading Promotion Program approved by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport. The international conference and other events will be held in October 9-10 this year at the Conference Hall of the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania and the National Library.

The workshop “At the Source: Baltics”, which took place on 16–20 September, united professionals from Lithuania, Latvia, Poland and Israel working with the Jewish documentary heritage. A partner of the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, which hosted the event, was the National Library of Israel.

The Children’s Spaces is a non-conventional library for our youngest readers. It has been established following the Swedish children’s library model which is based on the features of psychological and physical development of children. Here, the focus is on the ways children see and explore the world or how they discover various objects in their surroundings, including books. In this part of the library, books are not shelved alphabetically: our youngest readers and their parents can find the books by category. They can choose books about animals or adventure, funny or terrifying books, poetry or literature in foreign languages, thus there is no need to remember the name of the author of the book’s title. The books are displayed to attract children’s attention with their front covers facing outwards. Their spatial arrangement is also important: the bottom shelves contain toy-books for the smallest readers who still crawl on their hands and knees; picture books arranged by category are placed on the shelves at a height that toddlers can reach; and older children can get the books from the top shelves using a special step ladder.

Libraries seek to modernise access to information by updating their collections of traditional print publications with electronic resources in their attempts to build a knowledge society and to ensure high-quality and responsive provision of information to their users. Electronic publications are vital for today’s libraries which strive to provide a fast and comprehensive access to the latest scientific information to their users.

On 25–26 September, Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania will host an international academic conference aimed at investigating the World War II war crimes trials and their mediatization processes. It will be the first conference of this kind organised in Lithuania by the Branch Office of German Historical Institute Warsaw and Institute of Baltic Region History and Archaeology of Klaipėda University.

On 12 September, there are 100 days left until the official 100th anniversary of the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania. This national cultural institution meets this day by presenting new publications surveying the 100th anniversary of the National Library and future vision as well as diverse festive programme.

The spring of 2018 saw the publication of a unique book titled The Story of BATUN – Baltic Appeal to the United Nations (1966–1991) by Estonian-born author currently residing in the U. S., Sirje Okas Ainso. The book depicts the independence struggle of the three Baltic countries outside Lithuania. The Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania will host the launch event for this unique publication as well as a discussion with the author which will be moderated by diaspora researcher Dr. Ina Ėmužienė. The event will be held in English.

During this year’s General Conference of IFLA, organization that unites the world’s libraries, the poster of the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania was selected as the Best IFLA Poster 2019. 198 posters had been presented from various countries.

Congestions, long travels, flight delays and queues at check-in counters... You can now escape from a mundane routine life into the world of adventure via Interactive Library portal ibiblioteka.lt. If you are a holder of a LIBIS Reader’s Card, you can experience over 2,000 travels even after the summer break has come to an end. All the users of the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania can get free access to electronic books by Lithuanian authors or e-books by foreign authors translated into Lithuanian. Register today and delve into the world of light romance novels or deeply moving dramas and travel for free around the world.

For many of us, the library was a magical place when we were children. Perhaps you remember how you would come across an exciting book cover while raiding the bookshelves and tried to find a quiet spot so that you could delve into a fairy tale that lurks inside. Your childhood ended, and your habits changed. You grew up, and the library did too. The Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania welcomes everyone who want to get some serious work done at the Library’s Coworking Space and who want to be part of our diverse community.

The international Baltic Sea Festival starts on 24 August. Festival’s programme spans seven festival days of first-class music and seven livestreamed conversations, where some of the most interesting personalities from our region come together to talk about music and sustainability.In Lithuania, the talks are held with one of Europe’s brightest composer stars Justė Janulytė and award-winning multimedia journalist Berta Tilmantaitė. The talk is moderated by Swedish Radio journalist Fredrik Wadström.

On 7 August, among the first visitors greeted at the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania were a delegation of 22 teenagers from the conflict zone in Donbass as well as the group’s leaders accompanying them. The delegation came to Lithuania to get to know Europe better.

Visitors are welcome to attend a modern photography exhibition titled “New York’s Constructs” opened at the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania. In her opening speech, the exhibition’s curator Gerda Paliušytė pointed out that the exhibition and its title were inspired by a photography series of the 1980s by American artist Barbara Kasten. “I am very excited about everything that we have today at this exhibition space. Besides B. Kasten’s assemblages “New York’s Constructs 13” and “New York’s Constructs 14”, visitors will be able to see other works of modern photography by John Divola, Wei-Li-Yeh, Ulrich Wüst, Marijonas Baranauskas, Romualdas Rakauskas, and Itsuko Hasegawa. I would also like to extend my thanks to the National Library (the exhibition is dedicated to its 100th anniversary) and to the Lithuanian Council for Culture as well as Goethe’s Institute in Lithuania for all the support we have received in compiling this exhibition.”