National Library of Latvia
Encyclopedia
The National Library of Latvia (NLL) is the legal deposit
library for Latvia
. It holds 4.1 million books and other publications in more than 50 languages, covering all branches of knowledge and including special collections of rare books, manuscripts, periodicals, and more. The Director of the NLL is Andris Vilks.
Today the Library plays an important role in the development of Latvia's information society, providing Internet access to residents and supporting research and life-long education.
The NLL is a centre of theoretical research and practical analyses of the activities of Latvian libraries. The Library carries out the functions of the centre of Latvia Interlibrary Loan, ensures the library and information service to the Parliament of the Republic of Latvia - the Saeima
, implements the standardisation of the branch. Since the very outset its main concern has been the national bibliography. The massive union catalogue “Ancient Prints in Latvian 1525 -1855 ”(published in Riga, 1999), received Spīdola Prize in 2000 and was awarded “The Beautiful Book of the Year 99” .
In 2005 “The Index of the Authors of Letonica Books (1523-1919)” was published, supplying with the information about versatile branches of science and representatives of various nations, Latvia being in the limelight of their publications.
Among the treasures of the NLL can be mentioned the collection of posters (artists Oskars Šteinbergs (1882–1937), Sigismuds Vidbergs (1890–1970), Raoul Dufy
(1877–1953), Bernhard Borchert
(1863–1945), Niklavs Strunke (1894–1966) and others).
Latvia has unique and strong tradition of Song and Dance Festivals organized every four years. The historical materials from the first Song Festival in 1864 till the Latgale Song Festival in 1940 can be explored in another digital collection of the National Library of Latvia.
Legal deposit
Legal deposit is a legal requirement that a person or group submit copies of their publications to a repository, usually a library. The requirement is mostly limited to books and periodicals. The number of copies varies and can range from one to 19 . Typically, the national library is one of the...
library for Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
. It holds 4.1 million books and other publications in more than 50 languages, covering all branches of knowledge and including special collections of rare books, manuscripts, periodicals, and more. The Director of the NLL is Andris Vilks.
History
The National Library of Latvia was formed in 1919 after the independent Republic of Latvia was proclaimed in 1918. The first supervisor of the Library was Jānis Misiņš, the outstanding librarian and the founder of the Latvian scientific bibliography (1862–1945).Today the Library plays an important role in the development of Latvia's information society, providing Internet access to residents and supporting research and life-long education.
Collections
One of the characteristic cornerstones of the NLL, which characterizes every national library, is the formation of the collection of national literature, its eternal storage and long-term access.The NLL is a centre of theoretical research and practical analyses of the activities of Latvian libraries. The Library carries out the functions of the centre of Latvia Interlibrary Loan, ensures the library and information service to the Parliament of the Republic of Latvia - the Saeima
Saeima
Saeima is the parliament of the Republic of Latvia. It is a unicameral parliament consisting of 100 members who are elected by proportional representation, with seats allocated to political parties which gain at least 5% of the popular vote. Elections are scheduled to be held once every four years,...
, implements the standardisation of the branch. Since the very outset its main concern has been the national bibliography. The massive union catalogue “Ancient Prints in Latvian 1525 -1855 ”(published in Riga, 1999), received Spīdola Prize in 2000 and was awarded “The Beautiful Book of the Year 99” .
In 2005 “The Index of the Authors of Letonica Books (1523-1919)” was published, supplying with the information about versatile branches of science and representatives of various nations, Latvia being in the limelight of their publications.
Among the treasures of the NLL can be mentioned the collection of posters (artists Oskars Šteinbergs (1882–1937), Sigismuds Vidbergs (1890–1970), Raoul Dufy
Raoul Dufy
Raoul Dufy[p] was a French Fauvist painter. He developed a colorful, decorative style that became fashionable for designs of ceramics and textiles, as well as decorative schemes for public buildings. He is noted for scenes of open-air social events...
(1877–1953), Bernhard Borchert
Bernhard Borchert
Bernhard Borchert was a Baltic-German artist who spent the greatest part of his life in Latvia. He has worked in the field of painting and has produced book and magazine illustrations....
(1863–1945), Niklavs Strunke (1894–1966) and others).
Letonica
Digitising collections at the NLL started in 1999. At present the Latvian National Digital Library Letonica which was formed in 2006 holds digitized collections of newspapers, pictures, maps, books, sheet-music and audio recordings. In 2008 NLL launched two major digital projects. Periodika.lv is NLL collection of digitized historical periodicals in Latvian with the possibility to read full texts and search page by page.Latvia has unique and strong tradition of Song and Dance Festivals organized every four years. The historical materials from the first Song Festival in 1864 till the Latgale Song Festival in 1940 can be explored in another digital collection of the National Library of Latvia.
New building
On May 15, 2008 after discussions lasting for many years the state agency Three New Brothers and The Union of National Construction Companies signed the contract on the construction of the new National Library of Latvia. One of the notable architects is Gunārs Birkerts. It will open its doors to the visitors in 2012. The first discussions about the need of a new National Library started already in 1928, and the significance of the project of this century was further confirmed by the high-level international recognition. In 1999 almost all 170 UNESCO member states during its General Conference adopted a resolution, calling the member states and the international community to ensure all possible support for the implementation of NLL project.See also
- List of national libraries
- Latvian ISBN AgencyLatvian ISBN AgencyLatvian ISBN/ISMN agency - is an agency responsible for assigning ISBN numbers for the group identifier 9984 to books and ISMN numbers to notes in Latvia...
- National Library of Latvia participates in the WorldWideScienceWorldWideScienceWorldWideScience.org is a global science search engine designed to accelerate scientific discovery and progress by accelerating the sharing of scientific knowledge...
global science gateway.