17 March 2016

Discussing the Vilna Collection Project with Representatives of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research

On March 16, The Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania hosted the visit of the Executive Director of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York Dr. Jonathan Brent and this Institute’s Acting Chief Archivist Dr. Lyudmila Sholokhova. During the meeting with the manager of the YIVO Vilnius Project and Director of the Information Sciences Department Dr. Nijolė Bliūdžiuvienė, Deputy Director-General for the Development of Information Resources and Services Sandra Leknickienė and Deputy Director-General for the Infrastructure Aidas Sinkevičius, they discussed the progress of the YIVO Vilnius Project and its perspectives for the two coming years.

Over the initial years of the project implementation, the National Library, in line with the agreed requirements, produced more than 300 digitized books in Yiddish and Hebrew. Mr Jonathan Brent highly appreciated the outcome of the first years of the project and the contribution to building the collaborative collection of the Jewish intellectual memory. Regarding the intended establishing of a centre for Jewish research at the National Library, Mr Brent highlighted the importance of international partnership and suggested that the planned research centre could host the initial results of the Project, the Matas Strašūnas Library which is now under reconstruction. He also shared his thoughts on technical solutions for establishing such a centre. The guests visited laboratories for conservation and digitization of the printed Judaica heritage and surveyed the premises intended for the planned centre for Jewish research. A delegation from the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is expected to visit the National Library in a few months time for discussing the concept for the planned research centre and its activities.

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