Chapter I.
General Provisions

Article 1. Objective of the Law

The Law on Libraries of the Republic of Lithuania shall establish the library system of Lithuania, relations between libraries, financing and state administration of libraries, and define the library collections of Lithuania and their protection.

Basic statutes of the Law : printed matter and other documents (books, periodicals, manuscripts, music notes, microfilms, audio-visual, cartographic materials, graphics, electronic materials, Braille publications and other documents), assembled and protected in state and non government libraries, as well as, those located in libraries of other states, archives and private collections, which however, legally belong to the Republic of Lithuania, shall comprise the property of the Republic of Lithuania, protected by the laws of the Republic of Lithuania and the procedure established through international agreements, printed matter and other documents, regardless of their authorship or the political or ideological orientation, must be accessible to everyone, free of charge.

Article 2. Description of Library

The library is an institution of culture, education and information, wherein printed matter and other documents are collected, organised for use and kept, and the information contained in them is systematised and disseminated, for the purposes of knowing, associating, preserving information collected by people, training and recreation, and is registered in the procedure established by this Law.

Article 3. Legal Administration of Library Activity

In their activities, the libraries of Lithuania shall be guided by the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, this Law, other laws of the Republic of Lithuania, decisions by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, normative acts of the Ministry of Culture and international agreements made by the Republic of Lithuania. Each library, regardless of whether it shall possess the rights of a legal person, shall act in accordance with the library charter approved by the founder.

Article 4. State and Non Government Libraries

The Republic of Lithuania has both state and non government libraries. State libraries are libraries, which have been founded by state governing institutions, municipal governments and other institutions.

Non government libraries are libraries, which have been founded by non government enterprises, institutions, as well as political, professional, religious, public organisations and natural persons.

Non government libraries may obtain methodological assistance from state libraries and other centres of library science.

Article 5. Library Rights

Provisions approved by the founder shall determine the rights and obligations of libraries which do not have the rights of a legal person. A library which has the right of a legal person, may:

Chapter II
Library System, Library Establishment and Closing

Article 6. Library System

The library system of Lithuania shall be comprised of general and specialised libraries. General libraries shall serve readers according to a regional principle, fulfilling complex information demands of readers of various professions, diverse levels of education and different age levels, shall assemble printed matter of general content and a collection of other documents, with attention to the economic, cultural and demographic characteristics of the territory it serves. Specialised libraries shall satisfy special information demands (of science, manufacturing, education etc.) and develop collections of printed matter and other documents, taking into consideration the founder's functions.

General libraries shall include:

Specialised libraries shall include:

Article 7. National Library

Martynas Mazvydas National Library of Lithuania is the main public scientific library, national press archive, and also the depository for Lithuanian publications, as well as for the most significant scientific and general publications of foreign countries, and a co-ordination centre for national bibliography, state registration of Lithuanian publications, information, scientific research work and methodological activity. The Government of the Republic of Lithuania shall approve the National Library provisions. The Ministry of Culture shall be the founder of the National Library.

Article 8. District Public Library

The district public library shall be responsible for the implementation and development of state library science programmes within the district and shall be the centre for district public library methodology, bibliography and information. It shall guarantee district library access to the library collections of Lithuania, and shall perform other functions, established by the Ministry of Culture in the public district library provisions. The district public library shall assemble an appropriate general collection of printed matter that fulfils the needs of the district, and other documents pertaining to the district. The Ministry of Culture shall be the founder of the district public library.

Article 9. Rural or City Municipality Library

A rural or city municipality library shall accumulate a general collection of printed matter and other documents that suit the general needs of a region or city and are relevant to a region or city; shall collect and protect printed matter and other documents that are relevant to the region or city; shall maintain the ties established between all libraries located within the municipal territory with the collections of Lithuanian libraries. The rural or city municipality shall be the founder of the rural or city municipality library. A regional or city municipal library must be established

with branches in the city micro-regions and/or rural settlements. Township or city municipality library branches, serving children, may be established in townships and cities. The municipal government, together with the Ministry of Culture shall determine the number of regional or city municipal library branches and their location according to population density. Rural or city municipality library branches shall be established as follows: in rural areas one library branch shall be established per 700-800 population on the average; library branches shall be established in a township if they have a population numbering up to 10 thousand; city library branches shall be established per 20-30 thousand population on the average, in cities which contain over 10 thousand population. A library shall be established in resort cities per 5 thousand of population. In a city containing both city and rural municipality libraries, one library can exist per agreement between city and rural municipality authorities, to serve both city and rural populations. Under these circumstances, this library shall be financed by the budget funds of both the city and rural authorities. Rural or city municipality libraries shall organise library services in city hospitals, and other medical institutions, prisons, care and welfare institutions, as well as other social institutions, according to an agreement made with these institutions, and they shall also ensure conditions enabling the disabled to avail themselves of printed matter and other documents and information.

Article 10. Educational Institution Libraries

Educational institution libraries shall assemble a collection of printed matter and other documents, which shall satisfy the needs of the institution which they serve, to make use of printed matter and other documents and information; they shall take part in the formation of Lithuania's library collection and the library information system.

Article 11. University and Educational Institution Libraries.

University and educational institution libraries are those libraries which shall assemble a collection of printed matter and other documents in order to guarantee an opportunity for a university or an educational institution to implement its scientific, pedagogic and developmental goals and to improve instructor (teacher) qualifications, and which also shall participate in the formation of the library collection of Lithuania and the library information system. Libraries must be established within universities, higher and professional and general education schools.

Based upon the decision of a regional authority, it may not be necessary to establish a library in a rural primary or principal school, provided a regional municipal library branch, able to supply these schools, exists there. Under these circumstances, the municipal authority must allocate additional financing for the public library.

Article 12. Other Libraries

Juridical and natural persons may establish libraries that satisfy their needs for use of printed matter and other documents and information. Library services must be provided in all regional and city hospitals, children's homes, welfare institutions and prisons. For this purpose, libraries shall be established within these institutions or agreements shall be drawn up with public libraries with respect to library services.

Article 13. Libraries of National Significance

Libraries whose collections are of exceptional significance to science, education, culture, or the state economy and comprise the basis of Lithuania's library collection, are libraries of national significance. They shall be obligated to preserve their collections as well as their integrity and satisfy the fundamental public needs for use of printed material and other documents and information. The following are libraries of national significance:

Vilnius University Library,
Library of the Academy of Sciences of Lithuania,
Technical Library of Lithuania,
Medical Library of Lithuania,
Lithuanian Library for the Blind.

Libraries of national significance shall be the library methodology centres for their network.

Article 14. Library Networks and Library Consortia

The library network shall comprise an organised complex of libraries united by similar goals as well as other common characteristics. In order to resolve common tasks libraries may form associations, consortia and other groups, based upon agreements among themselves.

Article 15. Registration of Libraries

All libraries shall be registered in the procedure established by the Cultural Institution Register provisions, confirmed by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania.

Article 16. Library Property

Library property may be comprised of buildings, facilities, other long term assets, printed matter and other document collection, financial resources and other property related to library activity. State libraries shall administer state property they have been assigned, shall utilise it free of charge and shall preserve and protect it. Buildings and facilities leased by regional libraries or otherwise employed by them, are included on the balance sheets of these libraries. Buildings and facilities, that house state libraries as well as the property of these libraries, shall not be privatised. The library founder must ensure that the library has the necessary funds, library specialists, facilities and equipment adequate for its activity.

Article 17. Removal of State Library to Another Facility

A library may be moved only to better facilities, more suited for library functions than its former location.

Article 18. Reorganisation of Libraries

In seeking to reorganise a library, the responsible government administrator must prepare a draft reorganisation plan regarding the reorganisation of the library and submit it to the Ministry of Culture, one month prior to the day the decision is expected to be made, and obtain its permission to proceed with the reorganisation. The draft reorganisation plan must contain the library's name, address, reorganisation means, goal, duration, basis for reorganisation, property assessment, assumption of obligations and their duration terms, functions and tasks as well as exhaustive information concerning distribution of printed matter and other document resource distribution of the library being organised, or one already organised. The plan of the library activity statutes, following its reorganisation, must be added to the reorganisation draft plan. The Ministry of Culture must adopt a decision regarding the library's reorganisation, within the course of two weeks, from the date the plan is submitted. The library administrator shall have the right to register a complaint with the court, regarding the Ministry's refusal to permit reorganisation of the library.

Article 19. Closing of Libraries

Public libraries and libraries of state significance may not be closed.

In order to close a library, administrators of other state libraries must prepare a draft plan for its closure and submit it before the Ministry of Culture one and half months prior to the decision being taken regarding the library's closing. The draft plan must include the library's name, address, closure time schedule, basis, property assessment, comprehensive information concerning the use of printed matter and other document collections, as well as other library stock. The Ministry of Culture must within one month's time from the day of the appeal's submission, adopt a decision concerning the closing of the library. In the event the reply is in the

negative, motives prompting the decision, must be furnished. The administrator shall have the right to lodge a complaint with the court, in the event the Ministry of Culture refuses to close the library. The library administrator, having acquired the Ministry of Culture concurrence to close the library, must form a commission, in which the participation of the representatives of the Ministry of Culture, the library being closed and its methodology centre shall be required.

In closing a state institution containing a library, the requirements of Articles 17 and 18 of this Law shall be applied in this library's closing. Non government libraries shall be closed per decision of their administration, with prior two-week notification concerning this, to the Ministry of Culture. State libraries shall have priority to acquire the printed material and other documents offered for sale by a non government library, that is being closed. Documents of libraries being closed, that comprise a portion of Lithuanian Archive collection, shall be used in accordance with the procedure established by the Law on Archives of the Republic of Lithuania.

Chapter III
Library Collection

Article 20. Library Collection of Lithuania

Library collection of Lithuania shall be comprised of the total joint library collections, based upon general information system. Regulations of the library collection of Lithuania, approved

by the Ministry of Culture, shall establish the structure, formation principles, library rights and obligations in forming and using these resources. The state library collection shall constitute state property. Its order of accounting, preservation and use, shall be regulated by library standards, that have been confirmed in the procedure established by laws, which shall be obligatory for all state libraries. A library, which receives a request from a subscriber, must employ the possibilities of the Lithuania's entire library collection, in order to satisfy the needs of the patron. Library documents which comprise the archive collection portion, shall be preserved and used in the procedure established by the Law on Archives of the Republic of Lithuania.

Article 21. Acquisition of Library Collection

The library collection shall be assembled from obligatory depository printed matter issues, from publications and other documents obtained from legal and natural persons, through exchanging publications and other documents with Lithuania's and other states' libraries and from gift, or otherwise obtained as inheritance, publications and other documents.

The National Library, Libraries of National Significance and regional public libraries shall receive the obligatory, no cost depository issues of printed matter and other documents. The Government of the Republic of Lithuania shall determine the number of issues and the procedure of their distribution. Rural district and city publishers must send one obligatory, no cost issue of publications and other documents, to the library of this rural or city municipality. The Government of the Republic of Lithuania shall establish the procedure of sending printed matter and other documents to libraries and the tariffs thereof.

Article 22. Depository Collection

Printed matter and other documents that are not in use or are in small demand, in Lithuanian libraries but have not lost their scientific or historical value, may be transferred to a depository collection, which shall function in accordance with provisions confirmed by the Ministry of Culture.

Article 23. Exchange Collection

Materials not needed for the library collection, duplicate copies, items of small demand and items intended for exchange purposes and other documents, may be transferred to the exchange collections. The Ministry of Culture shall establish the procedure of transfers to and sales from the exchange collection.

Article 24. Protection of Library Collection

Standards of library collection accounting and protection, approved in the procedure established by laws, regulate the conditions and accounting procedure of library collection. Library patrons (or users) must observe the regulations for use of the library and must protect printed matter and other documents being used. Library patrons, who have lost printed matter and other library collection documents or have damaged these beyond repair, shall be obligated to replace them with the same, or else substitute them with others which the library recognises as being of equal value, and if impossible to replace, are obliged to compensate equivalent to tenfold their market value. A fine whose size will be established by the standard reader service regulations, confirmed by the Ministry of Culture, shall be incurred for failure to return library printed matter and other documents, within the prescribed period of time. Readers who hold a temporary reader's permit shall be allowed to take home printed matter and other documents, upon leaving a deposit equivalent to their market value. Library employees, who are responsible for the disappearance, seizure, destruction and damage to library printed matter and other documents, shall be held responsible in the procedure established by laws.

Article 25. Protection and Restoration of Library Manuscripts, Old, Rare, Particularly Valuable Printed Matter and Other Documents

Procedure of protection and use of library manuscripts, old, rare and particularly valuable printed matter and other documents shall be established by the provisions for Protection of Manuscripts and Old and Particularly Valuable Printed Matter, approved by the Minister of Culture. Manuscripts, old, rare and particularly valuable printed matter and other documents may be restored within libraries, whose provisions allow for the restoration function, and within other institutions, which hold a licence issued by the Ministry of Culture, to restore cultural value items. Restorers (individuals, holding the restorer's qualification, issued by the Ministry of Culture) and the persons supervised by the restorers, shall have the right to restore manuscripts, old, rare and particularly valuable printed matter and other documents.

Chapter IV
Library Financing

Article 26. Library Financing

The amount of funding for support of Mazvydas National Library and libraries of national significance is included as a special line-item in the National State Budget of Lithuania. District public libraries shall be financed from the state budget through the Ministry of Culture. Rural and city municipality libraries, as well as libraries of general education schools shall be financed from municipal budgets. Rural and city municipality library funds for acquisition of printed matter and other documents shall be allocated from the State Budget through the Ministry of Culture. Funding of libraries in general education schools for acquisition of printed matter and other documents shall be allotted from the State Budget through the Ministry of Education and Science. Other state and non government libraries shall be funded from their administration's (or institution's) funds. Norms of state library financing shall be established by the Government of the Republic of Lithuania.

State library development and scientific research programmes shall be funded from the state budget and the funds of state budget and co-operative state and library founder funds. State libraries may offer services requiring remuneration, the list of which shall be established by the Ministry of Culture. State library income shall not be subject to taxation.

Chapter V
Regulation of Library Activity

Article 27. Authority of the Ministry of Culture within the Scope of Regulation of Library Activity

The Ministry of Culture shall be the institution authorised to regulate state administration of libraries in the Republic of Lithuania, which shall:

Article 28. Municipal Authority Competence in Library Activity Regulation

Municipal authorities shall be empowered to:

1. establish municipal libraries, and determine the municipal library network, in co-ordination with the Ministry of Culture;

2. finance and administer municipal libraries and supply their material base;

3. following co-ordination with the Ministry of Culture, appoint and dismiss municipal library administrators;

4. upon permission of the Ministry of Culture, reorganise municipal libraries.

Article 29. Library Council of Lithuania

The Library Council of Lithuania is an institution, which, as an expert and consultant, shall deliberate the most important issues of library activity. The Library Council of Lithuania shall be comprised of representatives of National, state significance, regional district libraries, librarian societies, unions and associations, and scientists and other specialists in library science.

The Library Council of Lithuania shall submit proposals to the Ministry of Culture and the Government of the Republic of Lithuania, concerning the strategy of library development, library science programs and the funding thereof, budget funds earmarked for library development, distribution, precision and quality of the documents regulating library activities, directions in scientific research and financing thereof and other vital questions in library science. The Minister of Culture shall approve the structure of the Library Council of Lithuania and the Government of the Republic of Lithuania shall approve the provisions based upon the Minister's proposal.

Chapter VI
Liability for Law Violations

Article 30. Liability for Law Violations

Individuals who are in violation of the Law on Libraries of the Republic of Lithuania, shall bear liability for violations of the Law, in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Lithuania.

Chapter VII
International Co-operation among Libraries

Article 31. International Co-operation among Libraries

Libraries of the Republic of Lithuania have the right to establish direct ties with libraries of other nations and other institutions, to join international library associations and to participate in the activities thereof, in the established procedure to exchange experts, printed matter and other documents through direct agreements and according to international cultural co-operation agreements.

I promulgate this Law passed by the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania

ALGIRDAS BRAZAUSKAS, President of the Republic Vilnius June 6, 1995 No. I-920