In Lithuania, digital cultural policy is mainly implemented in the fields of libraries, museums, archives and heritage. The beginning of the digitisation process was the project of the Lithuanian Libraries’ Integral Information System (LIBIS), which started in 1995. The project was implemented by the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania. The objectives of the project were to develop a library system that would enable automation of all library and reader service processes; create a union catalogue based on shared cataloguing; adapt integrated library information resources to customer service; extend the infrastructure created by LIBIS; and develop the existing software tools. LIBIS was launched in 1998. In 2015 – 2021, the National Library implemented LIBIS modernisation project that aimed to transfer the e-services provided by the LIBIS libraries to a centrally managed cloud infrastructure and to develop the ibiblioteka.lt portal by creating new electronic services or modernising existing ones.
In 2005, the Lithuanian Government approved the Concept for the Digitisation of Lithuanian Cultural Heritage. This policy paper defined the goals and objectives of the digitisation of Lithuanian cultural heritage and established a special coordination body the Council of Digitisation of Lithuanian Cultural Heritage. According to the Strategy, the goal of the digitisation of Lithuanian cultural heritage is to transfer unique and valuable pieces of cultural heritage into digital form. The objectives are the following: to create an integrated information system of Lithuanian cultural heritage based on uniform standards and information usage agreements, ensuring long-term preservation of digitised information and access to it; facilitate the long-term preservation and use of the cultural heritage by providing its digital copy and information on it; promote the actualisation and dissemination of the Lithuanian heritage in the context of world cultural diversity; and contribute to the creation of an integrated information space on European cultural heritage.
Since 2005, the policy for the digitisation of cultural heritage in Lithuania has been coordinated by the Ministry of Culture (Memory Institutions Policy Group) together with the Ministry of Education, Science and Sport, the Ministry of Economy and Innovation (since September 2018) and the Office of the Chief Archivist of Lithuania. The Council for Digitisation of Lithuania’s Cultural Heritage provides expertise and consultations on issues in digitisation policy making, implementation, monitoring and reviewing.
Digitisation of cultural heritage activities is coordinated by the national network of 15 institutions: Lithuanian Ministry of Culture, Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, Lithuanian National Museum of Art, Office of the Chief Archivist of Lithuania, Lithuanian Central State Archives (they work at national level); at regional level work M. K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art and 5 county public libraries; on a sectorial level work Vilnius University Library (sector of academic libraries), Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences (the sector of Lithuanian research centres and institutes), public institution Lithuanian National Radio and Television (the sector of audiovisual heritage collection, preservation, and dissemination). Since the beginning of 2020, the system of statistics on digitisation of cultural heritage has been in place to consistently monitor and analyse the state and development of digitised and digital resources of cultural heritage and evaluate the impact of measures taken to achieve the strategic goals of the cultural heritage digitisation policy, and to initiate qualitative changes.
Digitised cultural heritage of cultural and scientific significance is available through several portals. E-paveldas is a virtual digital cultural heritage information system based on a database of digitised objects. At present, the portal has already accumulated more than 650 000 cultural heritage objects. Its content is created and enriched with new objects by 24 institutions: libraries, museums, archives, and others. Since 2012, the content of this portal has also been reflected in the European portal of digitised documents from libraries, archives, and museums, developed as a European Commission initiative.
LIMIS is the Lithuanian Integral Museum Information System. The Lithuanian Museums Centre for Information, Digitisation and LIMIS is a specialised department of the Lithuanian National Museum of Art. Its purpose is to ensure that information on the cultural heritage accumulated in Lithuanian museums is integrated into the common digital space of the Lithuanian and European cultural heritage. The portal www.limis.lt became available for users in 2012. In 2025, the general search “Exhibits and Valuables” of LIMIS displays about 1 001 482 records (the number is continually changing as content is added).
E-Kinas is the virtual archive of Lithuanian documentary heritage. Its aim is to create conditions for the preservation and dissemination of the film heritage accumulated in the Lithuanian Central State Archives. Currently, LCVA is the only place in Lithuania digitising films in 4K resolution. 229 hours of film content stored in the archive were digitised and made available on the Internet, including important events in Lithuania’s history in 1988–1992. EAIS is the Electronic Archive Information System. The system was developed in response to the constantly increasing amount of information stored in documents, registers and information systems, the cost of storing so-called “paper” documents and the need for a unified information search system of the National Document Fund (NDF). The LRT Mediateka is an audiovisual collection of the Lithuanian National Radio and Television. The Mediateka is open to the public since 2008. Videos and films converted into digital media are free of charge.
In 2023, the National Library of Lithuania started a new digitalisation project e-kultūra (eCulture). This platform will be a unified portal for digitised and digital cultural and audio-visual content, e-services and dissemination. The project is funded by the European Union (NextGenerationEU), the economic recovery and resilience plan “New Generation Lithuania”. The project value is EUR 23.8 million. The aim of the project is to increase accessibility and re-use of culture by creating a common digital data platform for cultural institutions through the implementation of integrated organisational and technological solutions. The implementation date is 30 April 2026.
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