On 21 February, the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania hosted a meeting of the members of the group monitoring the implementation of the Libraries for Innovation 2 Project, where the most significant results, financial indicators and the final report of the project completed on 31 December 2016 were presented.

Today, Georgian Ambassador to Lithuania Khatuna Salukvadze and Counsellor Irakli Gigauri visited the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania.

On 7–8 February, Prof. Dr. Renaldas Gudauskas, Director General of the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, visited the British Library in London to attend a meeting of the International Standard Name Identifier (ISNI) Method Application Managers, where global operating strategy of the standard was presented. Operating model, management and interoperability of ISNI with information systems of other countries were also presented. The meeting offered consultations on possibilities to introduce integrated information management systems in public and academic libraries in Lithuania. The head of the National Library met with representatives of the British Library and discussed the prospects of Big Data and further cooperation of national libraries of the two countries. It was agreed to draft an interinstitutional cooperation agreement to be signed by the National Library of Lithuania and the British Library.

Cannot find a quiet place to finish an important school project? Or maybe you are into building things or handicrafts? As of 16 February, visitors are welcome to visit PATS SAU workshop of the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania; here, you will find space for the realisation of your ideas and a box to hold the resulting creations.

Keeping its promises given to library visitors in September, the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania continues opening new spaces. From now on, the visitors are welcome to use five meeting rooms located on the 2nd and 3rd floor of the library. The meeting rooms are available to students preparing their projects, businesspeople organizing business meetings, and various hobby clubs – everyone looking for a comfortable and modern space for productive meetings

On 20–22 January, the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania became a venue for the global event LT Game Jam 2017, organised for the first time in four Lithuanian cities: Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda and Šiauliai. The event held in the National Library attracted more than 500 enthusiasts interested in computer game development. The initiators of LT Game Jam 2017 – the Lithuanian Game Developers Association and Blaster cluster.

We are happy to announce that open collection of the Humanities Reading Room has been expanded: now, readers have free access to the Lithuanian fiction section as well. It is comprised of the most famous works by Lithuanian authors: from old documents to modern literature. The collection is not complete and new books will be gradually added in time.

On 19 December, Documentary Heritage Research Department launched its activities at the National Library. The department comprises three divisions:

On 15 December, prizes for journalistic works were awarded in the White Hall of the Ministry of Culture of Lithuania. Liana Ruokytė-Jansson, the Minister of Culture, presented the prizes to a journalist Margarita Alper, a historian and publicist Aurimas Švedas, and an artist and art critic Dr. Kęstutis Šapoka, who works at the Music and Visual Arts Division of the Services Department of the National Library of Lithuania.

On 15 December, nearly twenty Ministry of Culture Prizes were awarded to creators and cultural figures for merits in the fields of cultural education, national language and literature, librarianship, cultural, academic and project activities, dissemination of tradition, photography, restoration of art, etc.

“Our libraries are both cultural centres and home for communities; a meeting place offering assistance and support. Despite the fast pace of our lives and the available virtual space, books will always remain important,” these were today’s words of address of Dalia Grybauskaitė, the President of the country and the patron of the Year of Libraries, to the library representatives who came to the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania from all over the country. She thanked the librarians for their passion for books and library visitors. The President also presented individual diplomas of acknowledgement to the most active librarians.

Nearly 1,200 events attended by over 40,000 people, more than 90 innovative services, 215 new products and tools: these numbers are a testimony to the shift of attitude of the renewed Lithuanian libraries towards their visitors and the community. All these changes were partially a result of the three-year Libraries for Innovation 2 project initiated by the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania.

Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania is keeping its promises to the visitors and on 7 December will open a door to the world of sounds and arts – Music and Visual Arts Reading Room.

The new Lithuanian government will face two challenges: some uncertainty about the EU’s future and the eternal issue of WarsawVilnius relations, which might become really relevant in the case of some geopolitical turbulence. On Nov. 17, Saulius Skvernelis, speaking in the Lithuanian Parliament after being nominated by President Dalia Grybauskaite to the post of prime minister, stated that he will seek to reset his country’s relations with Poland “(Lithuania’s) relations with Poland of the latest period are not bad. However, they are not of a neighbourly style,” Skvernelis said, adding that Lithuanian-Polish relations are important due to co-operation within NATO and economic ties between the countries. He has said his first foreign visits will be to Warsaw and Riga.

On 28 November, in the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, Mr. Linas Linkevičius, Minister of Foreign Affairs at interim, and Prof. Dr. Renaldas Gudauskas, Director General of the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, signed a cooperation agreement between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania and the National Library. The signing of the agreement coincided with the solemn opening of a Diplomacy Shelf: a shelf dedicated to publications and books in the field of diplomacy and international relations from the library funds delivered to the National Library by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).

On October 18–19, the European Parliament in Brussels hosted an international library exhibition Generation Code: Born at the Library. The interactive exhibition was held during the EU Code Week and demonstrated how public libraries are meeting the digital age challenges by improving digital skills of younger and older generations in Europe. At the exhibition, a virtual library presentation Time Portal developed as part of the National Library’s project Libraries for Innovation 2 was demonstrated for the first time.

On 26 October, the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania hosted an international forum on Culture and Sustainable Development. The purpose of the forum was to initiate a discussion on the role of culture and creative industries sector in the process of sustainable development.

We are happy to bring good news to families with little children: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania has opened a space, which was created to respond to your needs.

On 13 October, a space for children was opened in the Children and Youth Literature Reading Room of the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania. The children's space was equipped in cooperation with the Swedish Institute and the Embassy of Sweden in Lithuania in implementing a joint project Spaces for Children. First, the children were invited to enjoy the new space for intellectual activity. They listened to passages of their favourite books read by the actor Šarūnas Gedvilas, played games, and participated in a creative workshop with a Swedish art educator Anna Maria Willner.

After eight years of reconstruction, the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania was opened on 2 September. The celebration started on Friday with an official opening ceremony and continued throughout the weekend: on 3-4 September, the Library was open for everyone to see the renovated Library spaces and the activities planned and organized there.