Lithuania: finger on the pulse with eIFL

No matter how big or small, every consortium in the eIFL family shares the same idea: “1+1 = More + Better”, through a global network of sustainable national library consortia.

Aušra Vaškevičienė, Head of Department of Electronic Information, Information Centre at the National Library of Lithuania and Head of Administration at LMBA receives an award as Librarian of the Year 2008 in recognition of her achievements in promoting electronic resources in Lithuania from Jonas Jučas, Minister of Culture.

When a consortium joins eIFL, it receives tailored training and support in consortium building, negotiations and licensing of electronic resources from a dedicated team of specialists, as well as the opportunity to join a portfolio of cutting-edge programs in open access, copyright and open source software for libraries. So when a consortium is up and running (perhaps with the help of a start-up grant from eIFL), is able to negotiate its own deals with publishers and can successfully provide services to its members, why does it choose to remain with eIFL?

Take the Lithuanian Research Library Consortium (LMBA), for example. When libraries in Lithuania first become involved with eIFL in 1999 through the Open Society Fund Lithuania Library Program, the legacy of the post-Soviet era in the small Baltic state was evident. Censorship, together with strict currency regulations, meant that print subscriptions to foreign journals were rare and not a single library in Lithuania offered access to online electronic journals. “My own institution, Vilnius Pedagogical University, only had enough hard currency for four foreign titles”, said Emilija Banionytė, President of LMBA. “The first internet connection came in 1994. Before that knowledge about electronic databases was almost non-existent”. Within a decade, the differences are dramatic. The single biggest change is the increase in content, with over 25,000 titles in all academic disciplines now available electronically through LMBA, coupled with new user expectations of online desktop access 24/7. “These valuable resources are important for scientists and scholars, but their availability impacts on the whole of society”, continued Emilija Banionytė.

The achievements of the Lithuanian Research Library Consortium run far deeper, however. LMBA has become a weighty advocate for library interests able to command significant budgets and to influence national policy-makers. “Opening research databases for Lithuania” (known as eMoDB.LT) is a three-year multi-million Euro project managed by LMBA and jointly funded by the European Union and the Lithuanian Ministry of Education and Science. Starting in mid-2009, it will provide focussed training for researchers, students and librarians in specialist subject databases including medical sciences, physics, humanities, the arts and social sciences. “We would not have succeeded in this large proposal without the consortium behind us”, said Aušra Vaškevičienė, eIFL country coordinator. “Over the last decade, LMBA has built up trust and respect as a stakeholder from the Ministry of Education and Science and the Ministry of Culture. Through our strong working relationship, we play an important role in helping the government to meet its objectives for research, education and skills training in the knowledge economy”.

Another achievement that has received international recognition is a new law on science and studies that took effect in May 2009, requiring online access to publicly-funded research to ensure quality and transparency and to encourage advancement of scientific research. “This is a big step forward towards a national open access policy in Lithuania”, said Dr. Gintarė Tautkevičienė, a researcher at Kaunas University of Technology and eIFL Open Access Coordinator. “eIFL has helped us greatly by providing information, key expert people and advocacy advice”.

“This is a typical example of how LMBA continues to benefit from eIFL”, said Emilija Banionytė. “Through eIFL, we know that we are getting the most up-to-date knowledge on many important issues, not only databases and prices, but developments in licensing and library consortia, copyright and legal aspects of access to knowledge, open access policies and mandates, open source library systems. While LMBA has a track record as a successful consortium able to negotiate on its own (although we still benefit from eIFL pricing), one feature of the information world is that it is constantly changing. We need to follow developments, so that we can in turn provide leadership to our members who seek advice from us. Being part of the international community through eIFL means that our finger is on the pulse. We can’t get this anywhere else”.

The other motivation to remain active in eIFL is altruistic. Consortia who have learnt a lot through eIFL want to return that knowledge and experience through mentoring and training to others who might need it. And this is the nicest benefit of all: learning, sharing, caring.

September 2009