On the 7–8^th of December The Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania invites you to participate in the Early Reading Forum. It is a yearly event by the National library that aims to promote a professional and credible message on the benefits of early reading. The event is meant for parents, future parents and experts working with the reading education of toddlers – librarians, experts in formal and non-formal education. We invite you to watch the live event broadcast.

On the 14^th of November 2022, the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania celebrated the centenary of the friendship between Lithuania and Japan. The official diplomatic relations between the two countries began on 20 December 1922, when the Government of Japan signed the Act of Recognition of the Republic of Lithuania, symbolically marking the beginning of diplomatic ties. In 2022, at a meeting of the Lithuanian and Japanese Prime Ministers in Japan, it was agreed to raise bilateral relations between Lithuania and Japan to the level of a strategic partnership. On this occasion, the National Library has launched a series of events aimed at getting to know the history and culture of Japan better, discovering unexpected episodes of the century-long friendship between the two countries, and discovering the personalities who have linked the two countries: diplomats, historians and artists. On November 15th, the series of events officially opened with an exhibition of books and other documents linking Lithuania and Japan through cultural and diplomatic ties, entitled “Bonds / Kizuna”. It was organised by the Embassy of Japan and the National Library. The guests were greeted by the national anthems of Lithuania and Japan and, after the opening speeches, were entertained by the Vilnius City Choir “Jauna muzika” (Young Music), which had just returned from a tour of Japan.

Dear visitors, please be informed that on the 14th of November the National Library's opening hours end at 17:00.

Dear visitors, please be reminded that the National Library is closed during public holidays so it will not be open to the public on the 1st and 2nd of November. 

We kindly invite you to participate in the commemoration of the Constitution of the Ukrainian Cossack Nation of 1710 that will take place on the 26th of October, 2022, at 14:00 in the Statehood Centre of the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania.

Please be informed that fines for overdue books will start accruing on the 8th of November, 2022.

In 2017, a collection of publications and documents of Vytautas Landsbergis, the President of the Supreme Council–Reconstituent Seimas and the first leader of the restored independent Lithuanian state, donated to the National Library gave way to the establishment of a structural unit of the Library, the Statehood Centre. Its mission is to stimulate the public demand to know the historical development of Lithuania and processes of the creation of a modern state as well as contribute to the consolidation of democratic values and to the building of civic society. 

On October 5, the professor’s daughter, Alina Slavinsky, has kindly gifted the personal library of Professor Irena Veisaitė (1928-2020), a literary critic, theater scholar, and public figure, to the National Library of Lithuania.

Dear visitors! Please be informed that taking into account the energy saving measures and recommendations proposed by the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Lithuania, the opening hours of the National Library from the 19th of September are as follows:

On 14 September – 6 October the exhibition "Books of Laughter and Memory: Translations of Czech and Slovak literature into Lithuanian", dedicated to the centennial anniversary of diplomatic relations between Lithuania and the Czech Republic, as well as to the second presidency of the Czech Republic of the Council of the European Union, is being held at the Statehood Centre of the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania.

Multicultural center "Padėk Pritapti", Roma Community Center and Lithuanian Jewish Community, in partnership with The Department of National Minorities under Lithuanian Government, The Genocide and Resistance Research Center, The Center of Social Anthropology at VMU, National Martynas Mažvydas Library, Lithuanian Roma Community, are cordially inviting everyone to the international conference on Roma and Jewish Holocaust and Memory studies with a keynote lecture by anthropologist dr. Krista Hegburg from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Since the rigged presidential elections in Belarus in 2020, more than 40,000 Belarusians have come to Lithuania – most of them to Vilnius. Having become masters of self-organization due to the circumstances in their own country, the people from Belarus have also created structures in Vilnius: co-working spaces and self-help groups, crowdfunding campaigns for urgent evacuations from Belarus, and now also support for Ukraine. But Vilnius, once a spiritual capital that twice became the intellectual center of the Belarusian nation in the 20th century, quickly lost its symbolic character for many and became a real place with worries and problems, with a migration office and parking tickets. And the outside perspective on the new arrivals also changed: With the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, many Belarusians no longer experience only solidarity, but sometimes also scepticism as citizens of a satellite state of the aggressor. But since then, the incredulous looks that made mutual trust difficult have also become rarer. The knowledge of the violence that the Belarusians carried with them is now on every screen. 

Dear visitors! Please be informed that from the 29th of August National Library’s opening hours will be as usual.

The exhibition of the Lithuanian Theatre, Music and Cinema Museum devoted to the life and work of the legendary theatre director the winner of the Lithuanian National prize for Culture and Arts Jonas Jurašas.

On 1 September 2022, there will be an interactive exhibition launched at the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania (in the Atrium, 3rd floor) devoted to Lithuanian heritage treasures entered into UNESCO’s lists and registers.

7–9 August saw the presentation of the art project of the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania ‘Representation of the Cultural History of Lithuania in the Contemporary Interactive Artistic Format’ at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland by this Library’s Director-General Prof. Dr Renaldas Gudauskas. On 8 August, Renaldas Gudauskas participated at the world premiere of the documentary film ‘Prologos’ created by Marius Kvedaravičius, a film director and cultural anthropologist, who was killed by Russian occupants in the city of Mariupol in Ukraine on 30 March this year. The film was presented by its producer Uljana Kim.

On 24–30 July, on an invitation of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), the Director-General of the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania Prof. Dr Renaldas Gudauskas participated at the 87th IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Dublin, Ireland. Dublin was also the venue for the annual meeting of the conference of Directors of National Libraries (CDNL). The secondment’s purpose was to participate at annual IFLA and CDNL events and represent Lithuania’s National Library.

The Science and Encyclopaedia Publishing Centre under the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport will be reorganised and merged with the National Martynas Mažvydas Library of Lithuania. This proposal was approved today by the Government. All reorganisation procedures are scheduled for completion by 1 January 2023.

“Our common task is to restore our society and state and continue building them. However, only free people in a free land reveal the powers of that creation. Therefore, we must come to our free land and defend our own and children's lives. We are already coming. There are many of us. So life is changing quickly, and we are now standing on the threshold of a historical turning point.” (Vytautas Landsbergis, March 12, 1990)

An exhibition of lace and drawings by the folk artist Jadvyga Lapinskaitė-Dirvianskienė, dedicated to the 30th anniversary of her death, will be on display in the atrium of the 5th floor of the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania from 11 July, 2022.