“The Latvian National Library is the Republic of Latvia’s publicly accessible general research library, which serves to foster the intellectual development of the entire nation” (from the Law on the Latvian National Library).
The National Library plays approximately the same role in the library sector as the central bank in the finance sector. The Latvian National Library services and guarantees the operations of the system linking all of Latvia’s libraries; stores the entire archive of Latvian literature; and services library-system users and readers throughout the country. The L.N.L.’s holdings and data bases are publicly accessible state property. The Library’s principle role today is not to simply provide information but to help readers obtain and receive knowledge.
The L.N.L.’s functions are as follows:
- to develop the archives of national literature
- to selectively compile and store works printed in other countries
- to perform the functions of a central deposit library
- to take responsibility for the development of a national bibliographic index
- to organize and create Latvia’s combined library catalogue system
- to perform Latvia’s inter-library membership functions.
Today the L.N.L. could certainly not be called a modern library. Due to unsuitable conditions, the library has not been able to perform its basic function for many years now: it cannot guarantee the opportunity, provided by law, for each and every Latvian citizen to use the library’s resources.
There has been quite a bit of discussion in Latvia about whether or not a new National Library building is needed. Perhaps one condition that led to these discussions was the fact that the majority of people in Latvia have never seen, or been able to visit, a modern library, therefore they cannot completely appreciate the advantages offered by an establishment of this type.
The Latvian National Library services more than 400,000 people a year. Statistics show that the Latvian National Library has the second highest rate of book loans per capita in all of Europe. Nevertheless, the number of readers in Latvia began to decline after 1997, because many reading room were closed – a situation which endangered the life and health of readers. The L.N.L. no longer had the ability to serve a larger number of people.
The majority of library users are students. The second largest group is researchers, for whom the library is, to a large extent, a second office. Unfortunately, separate groups of individuals – for instance, students, a group that includes high-school students, college students, and students at technical schools – are not served at all by the L.N.L., due to a lack of adequate space. Reading rooms are overflowing, therefore spaces for readers have even been set up in the hallways. Library users are often forced to wait in long lines.
The L.N.L stores both ancient cultural values and contemporary books, which are needed on a day-to-day basis by students, businesspeople, teachers, and researchers. Unfortunately, these values, which are estimated at tens of millions of dollars, are not taken full advantage of; owing to a lack of space, the library cannot guarantee the accessibility of these materials.
If the Latvian National Library can no longer service readers, a large number of people will not be able to access the information they need on a daily basis.
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