The mission of the library – to meet the information, educational and cultural needs of the region’s residents, to promote personal development, create conditions for leisure time, self-expression, lifelong learning and communication.
The vision of the library – a modern, constantly learning, open, partnering library that applies and shares advanced experience.
Šiauliai county Povilas Višinskis public library (hereinafter ŠCPL) is the largest public library in Northern Lithuania, and at the same time it is a center uniting city and regional communities.
The library offers a wide range of cultural and educational activities: meetings with writers, well-known cultural and artistic figures, concerts, exhibitions, film screenings, performances, educational activities, digital literacy training, scientific conferences. Every year, the library organizes a Book Fair that attracts more than a thousand visitors, and by implementing projects of high cultural and artistic value, it invites residents and guests of Šiauliai city to discover culture in non-traditional urban spaces.
The library stores almost 500 thousand printed and electronic books, other documents, maps, video and audio recordings, archival materials, etc. that are open to the public.
ŠCPL is located in a modern, contemporary building. The library premises are suitable for visitors of all ages and needs, including those with various disabilities. Here operate various departments such as the Department of Regional Studies, Old Prints and Digitization, the Book Graphics Center with a unique Ex Libris fund of Gerardas Bagdonavičius, the Children and Youth Literature Department with an excellent toy library, the American Corner storing the largest number of publications, films and more in English in the region. In the Art and Music reading room visitors can find a large collection of vinyl records and notes, people have an opportunity to play the piano, synthesizer, use computer graphic design programs, and more.
There are computerized work places where visitors can use the Internet, software, search on subscribed databases, etc. free of charge. The library organizes up to 500 educational activities every year, which welcome up to 8 thousand participants of all ages.
Visitors are also welcomed by a spacious art gallery, a cinema hall, a poetry room, and a laboratory of innovative technologies located in the Creative Space.
At the national level, ŠCPL plays an important role as a methodological and regional center, providing methodological support, inter-institutional and inter-library cooperation.
ŠAVB supervises 11 public libraries of Šiauliai and Telšiai counties, the branch network of which connects all towns and villages of the region. Every year, specialists of the regional libraries raise the qualification and participate in the trainings.
ŠCPL is the first autism-friendly library in Lithuania. The library is equipped with a special space with sensory elements, has trained library specialists and prepared special educational programs, organizes “Sensory Readings” for children with speech and communication disorders and their families.
The development of services for people with disabilities is one of the most important activities of the library. Library employees purposefully raise their qualifications, are interested in the experience of libraries and other cultural and educational institutions around the world, share the experience with colleagues. In 2019, ŠCPL implemented the international project “Five Senses – Five Ways to Explore”, which aimed to address the problems of social and cultural integration of disabled and young people with fewer opportunities. In the same year, a forum for the dissemination of good practice “Mission (Im)Possible: Open, Empathetic and Accessible library” was organized.
The library is constantly expanding its activities, implementing innovative and brave ideas, seeking to expand the concept of traditional library activities, sharing its experience not only with Lithuanian but also with foreign libraries, establishing new inter-institutional cooperation relations and international partnerships. In 2019, the library implemented innovative cultural projects “Šiauliai Open Slam Fest’19: Cycle of Events” and “Culture on the Doorstep: Cultural Backyard Intervention” (“Yards”) which received a wide response on a national scale. The project “Yards” was awarded the Šiauliai City Culture and Art Prize for the best prepared and implemented cultural education project.
You are always welcome here!