The contribution of Lithuanian libraries in promoting early reading

Goda Baranauskaitė-Dangovienė, Director of the Children’s and Youth’s Literature Department of the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania

Although the promotion of early reading in Lithuania is a relatively recent, the first steps have already been taken. One of the most significant is the project “Knygų startas” (Book Start) of the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuanian, which is based on international experience. The talk presents what has been achieved and what the future goals of this project are.

One of the most important is to work closely with the entire network of Lithuanian libraries, and the talk also looks at the contribution of public libraries to promoting early reading, based on a survey conducted in October 2022. It showed how much library staff are interested in early reading and books for the very young – from newborns to three-year-olds, where professionals look for information and how they share it with visitors. The survey also shows which early reading services and activities are most often found in libraries and how the National Library project is helping to improve them.