Vilnius University Library
3 Universiteto, LT-01122, Vilnius
Director General – Irena Krivienė
Tel. 268 7102, fax 268 7104
Director of Information Services Department – Dr. Marija Prokopčik
Tel. 268 7101, fax 268 7104
Director of Heritage Collections and Research Department – Nijolė Klingaitė-Dasevičienė
Tel. 268 7111, fax 268 7104
Director of Scholarly Communication and Technologies Department – Dr. Žibutė Petrauskienė
Tel. 219 5090, fax 268 7104
Vilnius University (VU) Library 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 Jesuit College was transformed into a 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 over 5 million items. There are 330 thousand manuscripts and documents in various languages, dating from the 13th century up to the present. VU Library is also famous for its collection of rare manuscripts and prints, which consists of more than 167 thousand ancient and rare volumes released between the 15th and 20th centuries.
A collection of over 94 thousand original graphic prints is the oldest collection of this kind in Lithuania. It includes collections of old (17th through the 1st half of the 20th century, around 10 thousand items) and modern graphic prints.
Since 1965, the Library has been a depository of the United Nations. It receives publications of the General Assembly of the UN and other subdivisions of the following organizations: UNESCO, WHO, IAEA, FAO, ILO, UNIDO, IMF, and ICJ.
VU 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 that of Academic Libraries Association of Lithuania, the Lithuanian Research Library Consortium and Confederation of Open Access Repositories (COAR).
VU Library participates in the international project of the digitized manuscript cultural heritage Manuscriptorium; the Library is also a member of the international project World Digital Library since 2009. VU Library’s cultural heritage made in digital form is part of the National Virtual Heritage System. In March 2017, the Library successfully finalised 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 2017, the Library users could search for information in 80 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 2017, VU Library provided services to more than 45 thousand users. They visited the Library more than 1.1 million times. Printed materials were borrowed more than 374 thousand times, and information resources from the Library subscribed databases were downloaded 1 093 569 times. In total, information resources were used 1.467 million times.
VU Library has 31 reading room: 13 reading rooms are situated in the Central Library, 8 reading rooms in the SCIC, and 10 reading rooms in the premises of faculties and centres.
In 2017, the open stacks in the Library reading rooms expanded, currently including more than 443 thousand publications. Reading rooms have 1,720 work and study spaces, 319 of which are equipped with computers.
Vilnius University community members may use 3 group-work rooms in the Central Library and 5 in SCIC. In 2017, these rooms were booked for more than 18 thousand hours. Eight IT laboratories in SCIC were booked for almost six 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 almost permanently booked.
Wireless network and Eduroam are freely available in both Library buildings. Spaces of the Library have been designed with regard to the readers’ needs: those who want a quiet place to work can do so in the reading room, while the ones needing to discuss with colleagues can use the area designated for informal communication equipped with seats and tables. SCIC has a Leisure Reading Room equipped with various literature and board games for intellectual and cognitive leisure. There is also a special room for studying parents in the SCIC, where they can work with their young children. In the Central Library one may find the Czeslaw Milosz Reading Room which contains a collection based on award winning and classical 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. SCIC also contains a cafeteria, where students can have their lunch-breaks; Central Library users may use the lounge room for that purpose. Both SCIC and the Central Library have options to heat brought-along food, to make tea or coffee.
Opening of the SCIC revolutionised the information landscape in the University, while another stage of integration of the faculty libraries formed two information centres, both linked by united management, administration, and maintenance systems. For the first time in the University’s history, information sources and the Library’s infrastructure is open for users 24/7.
Reconstruction in the Central Library enabled unrestricted 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 also purchased software and hardware for the blind and partially sighted visitors, as well as persons with reduced mobility.
Since 2009, users of VU Library can develop their information literacy skills using Information Literacy Website. The action to generate a united and systematic information literacy skills’ development program at the University was continued in 2017.
Image development is an important part of each institution’s activity. The Library pays special attention to the formation and strengthening of internal and external communication, as well as quick and convenient provision of information to its clients through the use of the Library’s website and social networking. In pursuance of this aim, the number of VU Library social network users has considerably increased, while Facebook became 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 paid special attention to both internal staff training and seminar organization to librarians from other Lithuanian academic libraries. The VU Library in collaboration with Goethe Institute invited librarians from Lithuanian academic libraries to attend the seminar “Bibliotekų plėtra skaitmeniniame amžiuje” (Library Development in Digital Age).
In 2017, the staff of VU Library organized 704 guided tours in 4 different languages, which were attended by 10,468 persons from 54 countries. SCIC has captured the attention of the public both as a symbol of modern architecture and as an organisation providing innovative services. In 2017, the Centre was attended by 850 visitors from numerous official delegations and groups from academic institutions both in Lithuania and abroad, as well as representatives of businesses.
In 2017, the publishing activities of the Library included research of printed heritage, publications about Vilnius University academic community as well as publications dealing with the Library services and activities. Members of the Library staff prepared and published 49 publications: books, scientific articles, conference proceedings, translations, interviews.
Main publications:
Pociūtė-Abukevičienė : bibliografijos rodyklė (1991–2017). (2017). Vilnius: Vilniaus universiteto leidykla. (B. Gudelienė, R. Kivilšienė, S. Peciulkienė, comp.; E. Urbonavičienė, ed.)
Sarbievijus, M. K. 2017. Maršalo lazda, parodyta laidojant LDK maršalą Joną Stanislovą Sapiegą (V.Vaitkevičiūtė, comp.; E. Ulčinaitė, transl.). Vilnius: Lietuvių literatūros ir tautosakos institutas.
Kažuro, I., Petreikis, T., Tolkačevski, K., and Urbonavičiūtė, A. (Comp.). 2017. Vilniaus universiteto Knygotyros ir dokumentotyros institutas: bibliografijos rodyklė: 1940–1943, 1990–2015 m. (Institute of Book Science and Documentation : Bibliography: 1940–1943, 1990–2015). E. Macevičiūtė, transl. Vilnius: Akademinė leidyba.