A national library system without walls that reaches every corner of the country…and the world.

As the role of libraries changes in the world, they can no longer be simply reading rooms or warehouses for books. Libraries in the 21st century must offer a wide range of services using all the tools and advantages offered by high technology. They must be both on-line and integrated, to ensure maximum efficiency in the management of internal resources as well as free access to the world of external resources.

The Latvian National Library Project envisions the development of an integrated on-line nationwide information system - 'Lightnet' - that will link the new National Library Building in Riga with over a thousand other libraries around Latvia - academic, regional, municipal, community libraries. This will maximize access for staff and users to the library collections and resources, and to the on-line data bases and other resources available via the Internet.

In effect, the new Latvian library system will be both a physical library and a virtual one. It will include the over 6.5 million units contained in the new central building in Riga, and the virtual library of resources contained in the Latvian Library Consortium Library Information Network, as well as myriad other information resources to which access is provided by other libraries.

The Lightnet system will enable anyone, anywhere in Latvia, to access the full services of the national library system without leaving their local towns or communities. The goal of the Lightnet system is to provide each public library, regardless of how small, with the necessary computer hardware and software to access the Internet and the unified Latvian Library System.

The program also envisages:

• the development of a Latvian library portal
• data base and digital resource development
• data base and electronic resource development
• training of library employees
• training of the public in the use of computers and the Internet

Once completed, Lightnet will guarantee that every inhabitant of Latvia has access to a nearby library that is equipped with:

• at least 5 computer work spaces
• access to the integrated Latvian Library Information System
• access to an electronic catalogue and other forms of digital information
• the ability to order and quickly receive books from any library in Latvia
• access to the Internet and international research data bases

For this purpose, in 2001, the Latvian Cabinet of Ministers approved the Unified State Library Information Concept. Apart from the above mentioned aims, the concept envisions also training of the country's librarians.

The Unified State Library Concept is designed to create an integrated public library system which will use the most advanced technology-based information systems to provide Latvia's library users with optimal library information services.

It will equip the library staff with tools enabling them to identify, catalogue, store and systematize the library's own holdings and resources, as well as all Latvia's vast national cultural and educational material. This internal management control will also make information retrieval easier so that the public at large, including international researchers, can have easier access to the library's 5.5 million books, publications, catalogues, documents and other materials in 60 languages.

This includes:

• 47,000 rare books and manuscripts;
• a virtually complete collection of books and periodicals published in Latvia from 1525 to 1919;
• the 'Lettonica' collection: 57,000 items about Latvia and Latvians irrespective of the language of publication;
• a significant collection of handwritten books from the 18th and 19th centuries
• Latvia's rarest collection of maps, postcards and posters
• The former Soviet Union's most valuable music sheet and sound recording library

In addition to this system which provides access to its own holdings and other resources within its facility, Lightnet will provide Latvia's library users with access to the world of resources available on the Internet or elsewhere.