With libraries, their work, and free access to information under increasing threat around the world, B+P and the Melbourne UNESCO City of Literature Office reached out to libraries in other designated cities of literature to ask them about their libraries, their systems, their triumphs, their challenges, and the messages they want to share with the world.
This week we hear from the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania in Vilnius:
The National Library of Lithuania, named Martynas Mažvydas after the first published Lithuanian author, considers itself a ‘library for the people’. And the impressions it leaves on local and international community support this touching ethos. Libraries are – deliberately – a big part of Lithuanian life.
On average, there is one library for every 2254 residents, and Lithuanian libraries are visited about 9.3 million times a year.
Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania is one of the country’s most significant literary institutions. Founded in 1919 (and originally known as the National Library before it was renamed in 1988), it was granted the unique status of the National Library in 1989.
It has been crucial to restoring the country’s statehood. In fact, the library’s central staircase – long reaching platforms leading to smooth pillars and the entrance – was once a regular spot for peaceful rallies declaring independence. Located in Vilnius’ city centre, it is also in the first building in the Baltics designed and built specifically to hold a library.
What makes Martynas Mažvydas a library for the people? In 2016, it underwent a big renovation that intentionally focused on highlighting the relationship between its history and its modern role as a user-centric space.
Physical changes were an obvious part of this renovation. While observing strict heritage regulations, the library introduced new spaces and facilities including collaborative and individual working spaces, coffee shops, conference rooms, galleries, a recording studio, a cinema room, an arts incubator, a daycare centre and more.
‘Visitors with different interests come here,’ the library’s director of communication and marketing Viktorija Pukėnaitė-Pigagienė said. ‘Not just researchers, but also young people with free time, visitors interested in events and exhibitions, scientists, the self-employed, families with children, creators who come to use our creative spaces, and others.
‘The library is an opportunity for a society that is becoming lonely – to have a place where they can meet and interact, satisfy their information and communication needs. In order to be such a library, the primary and most important principle, in our opinion, is openness.’
This ethos of openness underpins the library’s approach: ‘The entrance to the library is not restricted, visitors are not checked in any way, you can come and work in the library even without a library card’.
The library has recently increased its focus on accessibility. The website itself is fully adapted for people with visual and hearing disabilities, the physical library hosts educational tours of the library conducted in sign language, and its Braille and audiobook collections are kept up to date. Additionally, they have updated their inter-library subscription (a free book-sharing service) to make publications more accessible and available to people living in the most remote parts of the country so they may read books usually only available in large libraries.
Working in a ‘library for the people’ has taught Pukėnaitė-Pigagienė that decisions need to involve beneficiaries. For example, the library provides as much information as possible in English so that city guests, students and other visitors feel welcome in the physical space and when using the website. Employees performing similar functions are coordinated across different departments so that users receive consistent experience, regardless of who provides the service.
The library also focuses on technology as an important part of its accessibility. For example, it is currently implementing a large digitisation project ‘Creation of the eCulture Platform’, which digitises the library’s cultural collection, opening them up for public exploration through a heritage portal, which has become a gateway to Lithuanian cultural heritage. One of the library’s most unique technological offerings is its own TV studio, where shows, talks and discussions are filmed and edited, as well as live broadcasts. The studio was especially successful during the pandemic as it could reach audiences wherever they were.
Due to the war in Ukraine and the Belarus regime, the library also serves a significant Ukrainian community. ‘Despite the difficult circumstances, we cooperate with Ukrainians, representatives of the Belarus community and develop joint projects’, explained Pukėnaitė-Pigagienė. ‘These include film screenings, exhibitions, book presentations and exchanges, and visits of Ukrainian children to our library, as well as international science conferences and forums, language training etc. We learn from them about civic spirit and courage. The experience of our Ukrainian colleagues has taught us how to work in libraries during wartime, how to help local communities, and how preserving our national cultural heritage is especially important.’
Ultimately, Pukėnaitė-Pigagienė shared that the library’s goal is that visitors who enter the library for specific purposes ‘will discover the variety of services, try them out, and come back.’
What keeps people coming back? Programming is key in the library’s engagement with its community – every year, they organise over 1500 literary events.
One of the library’s most successful programs is ‘Book Start’ which involves every newborn in Lithuania receiving a reading package to help them take the first steps towards lifelong reading. Including a picture book by Lithuanian writer Indrė Zalieckienė, bookmarks, and a library reader certificate, the reading package also includes advice by reading specialists from the national library to help parents read with their child. Supported by the First Lady of Lithuania, this project is the first and only one of its scale to promote early reading in Lithuania.
‘We feel important and needed in our country,’ Pukėnaitė-Pigagienė said, ‘We understand that we need to keep improving. Studies show that Lithuanian libraries have earned a particularly high level of trust from visitors – they really change and improve visitors’ quality of life, meet their expectations and have become strong community centres.’
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