Vilnius University Library
Universiteto, LT–01513 Vilnius
Director General – Irena Krivienė
Tel. 268 71 02, fax 268 71 04
E-mail:
Director for Information, Research and Cultural Activities – Dr. Marija Prokopčik
Tel. 268 71 01, fax 268 71 04
E-mail:
Acting Director for Innovation and Infrastructure Development – Dr. Žibutė Petrauskienė
Tel. 219 50 90, fax 219 50 80
E-mail:
The Library of Vilnius University is the oldest institutional library in Lithuania and one of the oldest in Eastern Europe. It dates back to 1570, when the Jesuit College and the Library were founded. The College of Vilnius was transformed into the university in 1579, and its Library became the University’s Library.
After the opening of a new building - the Scholarly Communication and Information Centre (SCIC) in February 2013, the Library manages to evenly actualize its tasks for two integral information centres. The Library collection contains 5 331 million items. There are 319 128 manuscripts and documents in various languages, dating from the 13th century up to the present.
The Library is also famous for its collection of rare manuscripts and prints, which consists of 167 225 ancient and rare volumes of the 15th–20 th centuries.
A collection of 93 806 original graphic prints is the oldest collection of this kind in Lithuania. It includes collections of old (17th–the beginning of the 20th century, about 10 000 items) and modern graphic prints.
Since 1965, the Library has been a depository of the United Nations. We receive publications of the General Assembly of the UN and other subdivisions of the following organizations: UNESCO, WHO, IAEA, FAO, ILO, UNIDO, IMF, and ICJ.
The Library is a member of three international organizations: Bibliotheca Baltica, Consortium of European Research Libraries (CERL), and Association of European Research Libraries (LIBER), as well as Academic Libraries Association of Lithuania, the Lithuanian Research Library Consortium and Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR).
In 1998, the Library started digitization of rare and unique documents from its stacks. Scholars, researchers and other people concerned can study manuscript court books of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, collection of parchments, cartography collection (16th–20th c.) of the priest V. Mincevičius, portraits of Radziwill family produced by the portrait engraver Herszek Leibowicz, archives of Radziwill and Sapiega families, collection of autographs of various outstanding persons, kings and noblemen as well as the first Lithuanian book Katekizmas written by Martynas Mažvydas.
The Library participates in the international project of the digitized manuscript cultural heritage Manuscriptorium. The Library is a member of the international project World Digital Library since 2009. Digital content of the VUL cultural heritage is part of the National Virtual Heritage System. In 2015, the Library completed three scientific research project:Digitization of GDL Court Books, Held in Vilnius University Library and Creation of Script Data Base,Virtual Reconstruction of the Oldest Academic Library in Lithuania, and Bird’s-Eye View of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: Manuscript Cartography Sources of the 16th-19th Century funded by the Research Council of Lithuania, carried on COST activity ISI130 Reassembling the Republic of Letters, 1580-1800. A Digital Framework for Multilateral Collaboration on Europe’s Intellectual History. The Library is involved in an exchange of publications with 84 foreign libraries and academic institutions in various countries.
In 2015, the Library users could search for information in 63 subscribed databases (e.g. Web of Science, Science Direct (SciVerse), Springer LINK, Wiley Online Library, JSTOR, Emerald Management eJournals Collection,EBSCO Publishing, IEEE Xplore Digital Library, Passport, American Institute of Physics (AIP) Journals, American Physical Society (APS) Journals, Sage Journals, Annual Reviews etc.).
In 2015, the Library provided services to 44 683 users. They visited the Library more than 1 200 thousand times. Printed materials were borrowed more than 480 thousand times, and information resources from the Library subscribed databases were downloaded 1 022 thousand times. In total, information resources were used 1 502 thousand times, and it is exceeds 2014 by four percent.
The Library has 33 reading rooms: 15 readings rooms are situated in the Central Library, 9 reading rooms in the SCIC, and 9 reading rooms in the premises of faculties and centres.
In 2015, the open stacks in the Library reading rooms expanded, currently including more than 429 thousand publications. Reading rooms have 1 770 work and study spaces, 318 of them are equipped with computers.
Vilnius University community members may use 3 group-work rooms in the Central Library and 5 in SCIC. In 2015, these rooms were booked for more than 16 thousand hours. 8 IT laboratories in SCIC were booked for almost eight thousand hours.
SCIC has 34 individual work rooms; the Main Library has 62 individual work places which could be booked in advance for free. All these places were permanently booked.
Wireless network and Eduroam are freely available in both Library buildings. Spaces of the Library have been created with regard to the wishes of readers: those who need quiet place can work in the reading room, while the ones willing to discuss certain issues with colleagues can use the area designated for informal communication equipped with settees and tea-tables. SCIC has a Leisure Reading Room with various literature and board games for the musing and cognitive leisure. There is a special room for studying parents in the SCIC, where they can work with their small children. In the Central Library one may find the Czeslaw Milosz Reading Room. Its collection is based on award winning and classic literature in various languages divided into the following sections: prose, poetry, children’s fiction, ancient literature and fiction of Lithuanian authors translated into foreign languages. In the SCIC, students can have a lunch-brake in cafeteria. The Central Library users may use lounge room for that purpose. In the SCIC and in the Central Library students have an opportunity to heat their home made food, to make tea or coffee.
Opening of the SCIC conceptually changed the community character of University information surroundings: another stage of integration of the faculty libraries was finished forming two information centres, both linked by united management, administration, and maintenance systems. Information sources and the Library’s maintenance systems for the users of the Library are available 24/7 for the first time in the University’s history.
Reconstruction made in the Central Library allowed free access to all the Library’s facilities for the disabled visitors: a hoist was constructed on the staircase of the Library. In the Central Library and SCIC one can find adjustable study places. SCIC and Central Library purchased soft- and hard ware for the blind and partially sighted visitors, persons with reduced mobility.
Users of Vilnius University Library can develop their information literacy skills using Information Literacy Website since 2009. Work to generate a united and systematic information literacy skills’ upbringing program at the University was continued in 2015.
In 2015, the publishing activities of the Library were developed in the following directions: research of printed heritage, publications about Vilnius University academic community and publications dealing with the Library services and activities. Members of the Library staff published 5 books, 9 scientific publications and conference proceedings and 35 other articles.
Image development is an important part of the activity of each institution. The Library pays special attention to the formation and strengthening of internal and external communication, quick and comfortable provision of information to its clients. In pursuance of this aim, the main means are the Library’s website and social networking. The number of VU Library social network users has considerably increased. Facebook was one of the most successful tools of communication. The Library organized and promoted international seminars, exhibitions, its staff had a possibility to attend thematic seminars on the most relevant topics. The Library has paid special attention to both internal staff training and seminar organization to librarians from other Lithuanian academic libraries. The VU Library invited librarians from Lithuanian academic libraries to attend an international research and practice conference An Academic Library of Generation Z: Services, Spaces and Technologies dedicated to the 445th anniversary of the VU Library.
In 2015, the staff of the VU Library organized 633 guided tours in 5 languages, which were attended by 9 247 persons from 48 countries. SCIC has captured the attention of the public both as a symbol of modern architecture and as an organisation providing innovative services. In 2015, the Centre was attended by 928 visitors from numerous official delegations and groups from academic institutions both from Lithuania and abroad, as well as representatives of businesses.
Main publications:
Ten, kur kviečia tėvynės meilė ir pareiga = Where the homeland’s love and duty call: Mykolo Kleopo Oginskio 250-osios gimimo metinėms: parodos katalogas. Lietuvos mokslų akademijos Vrublevskių biblioteka, Lietuvos valstybės istorijos archyvas,Vilniaus universitetas. Vilniaus universiteto biblioteka. 2015. (Eds. Daiva Narbutienė, Ramunė Šmigelskytė-Stukienė, Nijolė Šulgienė, Alfonsas Tamulynas, Viktorija Vaitkevičiūtė; translated by Kristina Gudavičienė; indice of names by Nijolė Šulgienė, Viktorija Vaitkevičiūtė. Vilnius: Petro ofsetas. 239, [1] p.: facs. Indice of names: p. 237–239.
Vladas Žukas: bibliografijos rodyklė, 1950–2014. Vilniaus universitetas. Vilniaus universiteto biblioteka. Komunikacijos fakulteto Knygotyros ir dokumentotyros institutas. 2015. (prepared by Salomėja Peciulkienė, Eglė Akstinaitė-Veličkienė, Dalia Valikonytė, Žiedūnė Zaveckienė; compiled by Domas Kaunas; edited by Elvyra Urbonavičienė). Vilnius: Vilnius University Publishing House. 194, [1] p.: iliustr., facs., portr. Indice of Names: p. 174–190. Indice of collectives: p. 191–194.
Vilniaus universiteto bibliotekos metraštis. 2015. Vilnius University. (Eds. Viktorija Vaitkevičiūtė, Marija Prokopčik, Irena Krivienė, Nijolė Šulgienė). Vilnius: Vilnius University Publishing House. 444, [1] p.
Vilniaus universiteto bibliotekos metraštis, 2015 [elektroninis išteklius]. Vilnius University; Eds. Viktorija Vaitkevičiūtė, Marija Prokopčik, Irena Krivienė, Nijolė Šulgienė; Russian language editor Ina Kažuro; modelist (ePUB) Dalia Valikonytė; photographers Raimondas Malaiška, Gediminas Bernotas. Vilnius: Vilniaus University Publishing House. Available from: World Wide Web. URL: doi 10.15388/VUBmetrastis.2015.1/VUBm. ]
Vilniaus universiteto bibliotekos plantenai: katalogas. Vilniaus universitetas. Vilniaus universiteto biblioteka. 2015. Compiled by Vidas Račius; [transl. by Gražina Cijūnėlytė, Kristina Gudavičienė; editor Sondra Rankelienė; photographer Raimondas Malaiška]. Vilnius: Petro ofsetas. 494, [2] p.: facs. (Fontes et studia historiae Universitatis Vilnensis). Bibliogr.: p. 488–490. Indices: p. 447–487.
Žvilgsnis į Lietuvos Didžiąją Kunigaikštystę iš paukščio skrydžio: XVI–XIX amžiaus rankraštiniai kartografijos šaltiniai (Vilniaus universiteto bibliotekos Rankraščių skyriaus fondai) [Bird’s-eye View of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: Manuscript Cartography Sources of the 16th–19th Century (Funds of the Manuscript Department of Vilnius University Library]. 2015. Compiled by Tomas Čelkis, Valentina Karpova-Čelkienė; cartography documents digitized and their images edited by Gediminas Bernotas. Vilnius: Vilnius University Publishing House, 312 p.: iliustr., maps. Bibliogr.: p. 309–311.