4 December 2020

Dr. Lara Lempertienė was given the Ministry of Culture award

Acting Minister of Culture Dr.  Mindaugas Kvietkauskas awarded this year's Ministry of Culture awards to workers and creators, who were most deserving across various areas of culture and art. When congratulating the laureates, the Minister said that today those who are honored and rewarded are the ones responsible for tirelessly creating and nurturing Lithuanian culture. Head of Judaica research centre of the Department of documentary heritage research of the Lithuanian National Martynas Mažvydas Library, Dr. Lara Lempertienė was awarded the prize for scientific research for bibliothecography, bibliography, book science research and practical activities in libraries.

Dr. L. Lempertienė's professional and scientific interests include areas of understanding, preservation, research, and active dissemination of research results of Jewish culture and Jewish documentary heritage. Dr. L. Lempertienė expert competencies prove extremely important as she is a member of working groups, academic and expert councils. Investigating the phenomena of Lithuanian Jewish culture and based on the Judaica documentary heritage archival materials, she published fifteen articles in the Lithuanian, English, Russian, German and Ukrainian languages in collective monographs, scientific works and scientific popularization journals. She also delivered presentations at eighteen international and national scientific conferences in Lithuania and abroad (in USA, Russia, Poland, Germany, and United Kingdom).

For the fourth year in a row, Dr. L. Lempertienė has been the main initiator and coordinator of the of the Lithuanian National Library project, financed by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Lithuania. It is dedicated to the dissemination of documentary heritage of the YIVO Institute, active in interwar Vilnius, which is kept safe in the National Library.

She initiated and presented for evaluation of the Lithuanian National Register of UNESCO program “Memory of the World” two thematic collections of published Judaica documents of exceptional significance  which were kept safe in the National Library: Matas Strašunas personal Jewish book collection (2017), Elijah ben Solomon Zalman (Vilna Gaon) published collection of works (2019). Both sets were evaluated by the commission and included in the UNESCO national register.

Exceptional intensity, expediency and expert abilities were all demanded from Dr. L. Lempertienė in the year 2020, when the year of Vilnius Gaon and Lithuanian Jewish history was by the Parliament of the Republic of Lithuania. She actively participated in the work of the commission formed by the Government, planning events for this year, as well as organizing cultural, educational and informational events of the National Library and its partners.

The awards of the Ministry of Culture are presented annually for the professional activities of cultural and artistic workers, and their best works are evaluated.

We dedicate our most sincere congratulations to Dr. L. Lempertienė, and we are proud that the professional activities of the National Library employee has received such high appreciation.