The Research Library collects documentary material on Lithuanian studies necessary for the Institute’s activities and provides access to information sources. The Institute’s researchers have access to ten (10) subscription databases, which are available to the entire  population of the country. 

 

The Library operates in accordance with the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, the Resolutions of the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, the Law on Libraries of the Republic of Lithuania, the Statute of the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore, the orders of the Director of the Institute, and the Library Regulations. The Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore has been assigned the following scientific functions:

 

 

In addition to serving as the main base of the Institute’s scientific material, the library also preserves Lithuanian national culture created over several decades by the efforts of many eminent scientific and cultural figures, with the help of the general public. Its collections include publications from the library of the Lithuanian Scientific Society, such as valuable old books on Lithuanian studies, unique periodicals and cartography, and books from the personal library of Jonas Basanavičius. The library houses a number of manuscripts and photographs of Lithuanian writers and public figures who worked in the field of Lithuanian Studies, the Lithuanian Scientific Society and its chairman Dr. Jonas Basanavičius.

 

In 2013, the Lithuanian National Memory of the World Committee recognized the original manuscripts of Kristijonas Donelaitis (Metai: Pavasario linksmybės and Vasaros darbai; and two letters) as objects of heritage of regional significance, and in 2019, the autographs of the original works and translations of Simonas Daukantas—as objects of documentary heritage of national significance. The latter were included them in the Lithuanian National Register of the UNESCO Memory of the World Program.

 

Since 2005, the library has been a member of the Lithuanian Research Library Consortium, which is responsible for subscribing to e-databases for the members of the consortium and other libraries, promoting the creation of e-libraries and development and implementation of advanced technologies and innovative projects in the libraries. 

 

In 2010, the library became a member of the Consortium for Support and Development of Information Infrastructure for Science and Studies of Lithuanian Academic Libraries. On the basis of the integrated library system Aleph, library information systems were developed. They were instrumental in the installation of the basic Aleph 500 modules in the Institute’s library, which allow to carry out the necessary library tasks on the Internet, i.e. cataloguing, information search, ordering, checking out/returning of publications and registration of the Institute’s staff publications in the database of Lithuanian research publications. 

 

In 2012, within the framework of projects supported by the EU Structural Funds, the Lithuanian Research Publications Database was integrated into the Lithuanian Academic Electronic Library, or eLABa, which is an authorized information system for e-documents of Lithuanian science and research, functioning as a national joint open access repository. The main objective of eLABa is to provide the environment and tools for the preparation, storage, long-term preservation and various forms of output of e-documents of Lithuanian science and research and to create the preconditions for the formation of the Lithuanian Academic E-Library. Each year, the repository is supplemented by the e-bibliographic records created in the Institute’s library: books, continuous and periodical publications, and scientific publications.

 

In 2018, the library, together with the Lithuanian Folklore Archive, joined the digitization project “Development of a Virtual Cultural Space That Meets the Needs of Society,” carried out together with the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania.

 

Head of the Library Rūta Pleskačiauskienė 

E-mail: biblt@llti.lt