Print Publications

Temporary changes in lending practice!

From November 23, 2022 to April 3, 2023 library items from the Main Stacks, Rare Books and Old Periodicals, Manuscripts and Manuscripts stacks will be transferred to the reconstructed stacks building.
During this period, some items will not be available for the readers.

For more information please contact:
Circulation Desk: tel. (8 5) 262 3678, e-mail abonementas@mab.lt;
Rare Books Department: tel. +370 682 45427, e-mail retispaudiniai@mab.lt;
Old Periodicals Reading Room: +370 686 15798, e-mail senoji.periodika@mab.lt;
Manuscripts Reading Room: tel. +370 686 85346, el. p. rankrasciai@mab.lt;

We are very sorry for the inconvenience this may cause.

The majority of the Library’s holdings consist of print publications.  The Library’s Main Stacks house about 2,5 million documents in 77 languages – books, periodicals, and serials.  The Main Collection contains publications of comprehensive content, published in Lithuania and other countries in the 19th-21st centuries.  In the acquisition of print materials, the primary focus is on scholarly literature.

Users will find required materials searching the Library’s electronic catalogue and card catalogues (Room 2).

Due to the reconstruction of the Main Stacks building (started in 2016)  most of the materials have been moved to off-site temporary stacks and storage, and the rest are kept in on-site temporary stacks.

The requested items are usually retrieved from the on-site stacks within 30 minutes, and delivered to the Library from the off-site stacks each Tuesday or Thursday.

The requested Main Collection items are delivered to the Humanities and Social Sciences Reading Room (Room 20) and the Circulation Desk (Room 2).

The following Main Collection items are delivered only to the Humanities and Social Sciences Reading Room::

  • periodicals,
  • serials,
  • reference publications,
  • encyclopedias,
  • electronic documents (CD, DVD, USB, etc.),
  • books published pre-1940,
  • frequently-requested items,
  • worn, damaged, and restored items.
Print publications are also held in several other collections of the Library:

The purpose of the Reserve Collection is to replenish the Library’s holdings. It consists of duplicates and various materials acquired in the post-war period, as well as of items moved from other collections. The Reserve Collection items may normally be requested through the electronic catalogue and read in the General Reading Room. However, the Reserve Collection has recently been moved to storage off-site due to the reconstruction of the Library and so is temporarily unavailable to readers.

The Acquisitions Department carries out a book exchange program with academic institutions and libraries of Lithuania and other countries. The Library has more than 300 exchange partners from over 50 countries worldwide. For this purpose, the Library maintains the Exchange Collection, which consists of 17000 items slated to be offered on exchange to partner institutions. Exchange Collection items are not made available to readers.

The Group-Processed Item Collection is kept in the General Reading Room for using on site. It consists of transitory documents containing information of short-term interest: reports, instructions, advertisement leaflets, exhibition leaflets, programs for various events, election publications, study programs, laboratory exercises, various tutorials, and ethnological materials; as well as museum, library and church guide leaflets, etc.

The Library acquires and preserves book collections of historical and cultural value donated by various institutions and private individuals. You will find these materials at Collections Donated by Individuals or Collectives.