Lithuanian Public Libraries

Panevėžys City Municipal Public Library was established in 1989, by separating it from then Panevėžys Public Central Library. It had 3 functional departments and 7 city branches then. At present, Panevėžys City Municipal Public Library network consists of the public library and 6 branches in different catchment areas. Their stock comprises 180 thousand items of documents.

The library services are constantly used by 11 thousand city residents, who visit the city libraries over 170 thousand times annually.In 2002, the Public Library has joined the LIBIS (Lithuanian Integrated Library Information System) project. With implementation of the new technologies the Internet reading-room was set up in the Public Library. Information search is performed using not only the traditional means, but the Internet and subscription data bases as well. The free Internet is provided for users in Parkas, Smėlynė and Židinys libraries as well as in Žiburėlis and Šaltinėlis children libraries. The public Internet centres established by Window to the Future alliance work here.
200 events take place in the city libraries annually. The annual Children’s Book Festival has long traditions and is extremely popular among little residents of Panevėžys. The Library staff have prepared and published the following works of regional studies: Motiejus Lukšys – beletristas ir pedagogas (Motiejus Lukšys: a Fictionist and Educator), Juozas Miltinis. Bibliografija (Juozas Miltinis. Bibliography), Vyskupas Kazimieras Paltarokas (The Bishop Kazimieras Paltarokas), and 10 small publications with summaries of Kraštiečiai (Fellow-Countrymen) conference papers.