Vilnius University Library has met the New Year with significant action – by presenting the public with a generous offering. From now on, thousands of the Library’s digitised documents will receive a public-use status. This means that cultural objects of the Library that are marked as Public Domain will become publicly available, freely accessible and free from any copyright restrictions.
Opening up of the Library’s digitised scholarly and cultural heritage to the public marks a significant step in opening up knowledge, as such. According to the Director General of VU Library Irena Krivienė, VU Library has been consistently advocating for open science, as openness is a necessary factor for fast-tracking progress in science, scientific achievements and education of the public. Digitised heritage of VU Library has finally been opened up to the public, who eventually are the true owners of the protected collections.
It is also expected that opening of digital collections to the public will generate new ideas and possibilities and not only will allow to explore the collections freely, but also will enable to use them in creative, educational, commercial and other work. “By this action we follow the example of the Western world and aspire that a digitised treasury of VU Library marked as Public Domain will inspire and enrich the world of art and science and will lead schoolchildren, teachers, creators, students, researchers and all those to whom scholarly and cultural heritage is important to exciting discoveries”, said Irena Krivienė.
At present, through the platform of Digital Collections, VU Library presents more than 10 thousand digital objects consisting of rare prints, manuscripts, graphic arts, photographs, and other documents. Among them are the first books printed before the 15th century, unique collections of old atlases and maps, archives of the Lithuanian noble families, early Lithuanian books and documents, and court books of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania that reveal a wide perspective of the Lithuanian political, legal, social and economic history.
Users can download any document from the Digital Collections in a JPG format (if an object is uploaded in this format). Each object has metadata generated according to its bibliographic record in the catalogue as well as information on its copyright status, which specifies on what terms the object can be used and provides a link to a canonical license webpage. Digital Collections website and a search field provide users with an access to a copyright license filter which allows selecting objects with a particular license.
Digital Collections: Peasant. Photography by Mykolas Kuscinskis. 1866 yr.
Digital Collections: Portrait of Anna Zofia Radziwill (18th c. Copper engraving)
Digital Collections: Leonine Tamarin, artist V. H. Lizars steel engraving
Digital Collections: Inferno. Flemish engraver P. B. Boultats
Vilnius University Library is one of the first national institutions of memory that has started digitisation of cultural heritage documents significant for Lithuania and the world. By participating in national and international projects for the preservation of cultural heritage in digital environment, the Library strives to ensure access to documentary heritage for every user.
Digital Collections please find: here
2021-01-14