BLAIR
Project cost (Litas): 130 000 LTL (for the years 2010-2011).
Project executive team:
- prof. dr. (HP) Arvydas Pacevičius, Professor of the Institute of Library and Information Science at the Faculty of Communication, Vilnius University, Project Head,
- Žygintas Bučys, Deputy Director of the Lithuanian National Museum,
- dr. Ineta Sibrian, Lecturer, Institute of Library and Information Science at the Faculty of Communication, Vilnius University,
- dr. Rafał Witkowski, Deputy Director of the Faculty of History at Adam Mickiewicz University.
Project aim: The Project aim is to conduct interdisciplinary research on the origin, development, structure, content, and functioning of libraries, archives, and Lituanistic collections of museums (funds, collected sets, document pools) in terms of methodology, theory, history, documentation, and digitization, along with preparation and publication of the sources.
Project brief description: The Project Bibliotheca Lituana: Development of Collections of Memory Institutions is intended for integrated and interdisciplinary research of Lituanistic collections held by memory institutions (archives, libraries and museums), with subsequent publication of the research results. The Project is chiefly aimed at ensuring historiographic continuity of the research body, extending its breadth by new conceptual studies into methodology, collection development and documentation, all of which will bridge fundamental and applied sciences.
Project objectives: to prepare and publish fundamental Lituanistic sources stored at libraries and other memory institutions; to prepare and publish the serial publication Bibliotheca Lituana (I), envisioned by Juozas Slapšinskas-Rimantas during the mid-war period in Lithuania; to prepare and publish Bibliotheca Lituana (I), a critical collection of sources and scientific papers; to publish Dovanų Vilniaus universiteto bibliotekai knyga, 1796-1832 [The Book of Gifts for the Vilnius University Library, 1796-1832], together with the study Pamirštoji mecenatystė [The Forgotten Patronage].
The Project will entail the following activities: research in the areas of library science and museology on the shift of paradigms and philosophical aspects of preservation of the collections both within the conventional and virtual space and time; research on the description, cataloguing, and development of the collections and on the inventory of museums, archives, libraries‘ catalogues, and book descriptions; a methodology for their publication and description has already been prepared; typical and unique catalogues and book lists of the old libraries (from manor houses, churches and convents/monasteries) are already in press. An international team of scientists has been formed for the Project implementation.