Jolanta Budriūnienė

Director of the Documentary Heritage Research Department of the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania

Jolanta Budriūnienė is the author and editor of handbooks, collections of articles, academic publications, and popular articles. She has participated in many international scientific conferences. Budriūnienė has been managing and implementing many national and international projects. She has had research internships at the Institute of Lithuanian Culture in Germany (2013) and the Center for Lithuanian Studies and Research in Chicago (2017). She has served as an expert at the Lithuanian Culture Council (2014-2016), on the board of the non-governmental organisation „Baltic Heritage Network“ (BaltHerNet) (since 2012), Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies (AABS) (since 2017), on the board of the organization „Bibliotheca Baltica“ ( since 2024). Her main areas of interest include cultural heritage protection and research, cultural studies of Lithuanian diaspora.

Strengthening Society’s Resilience to Threats: What Role do Libraries Play Here?

Over the last decade of the 21st century, geopolitical processes taking place on the doorstep of the Baltic states have forced society to step out of its comfort zone and start thinking about fundamental values and security issues. Hostile countries are spreading disinformation in an organized manner, deliberately misleading people and forcing them to question the value system of their nation and state. We are living in a state of daily, systematic war on values.

Libraries have an important task in preparing society for this disinformation war. We preserve vast amounts of information and unique heritage archives. But as noted cultural studies professor Aleida Assmann, the artifacts stored in libraries, museums, and archives do not create meaning on their own. They need to be empowered. Only then can they play a meaningful role in society.

The presentation will discuss the activities of the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, which are focused not only on heritage preservation but also on instrumentalization. The main goal is to reach target groups of society and enable them to use the information received, thereby strengthening awareness and civic resilience.

Date and time: 2025-12-02, 11:15-11:35 (20 min)

Hall: DELTA