About us

The Varėnos County Library started its activity in 1947 with a collection of 3000 books. There were 100 readers. The first head was Veronika Juodkienė.

• In 1949 the library moved to the premises of the House of Culture. A. Vyšniauskienė became the head.

• In 1950, when Varėna County was transformed into Varėna District, the library became Varėna District Library.

• In 1956, a major shift in the library's activities took place when Algirdas Kancleris, a graduate of Vilnius University, took over the management.   On his initiative, new premises were allocated for the district library. There were separate rooms for the reading room, the subscription and the methodological corner.  The library's bibliographic-information apparatus - catalogues and card catalogues - was organised. A large amount of material was collected for the local history file "Press about Varėna".

• In 1958 Ieva Rozenbergienė became the head of the library.

• In 1961, the library moved to other premises (in A. Basanavičiaus Street), where it housed a subscription office, a book depository, a reading room and a methodological corner.

• In 1966, Zofija Ščesnulevičiūtė (later Zofija Bliujienė) took over the management of the library. In 1997, Z. Bliujienė was awarded an important award - the Medal of the Order of the Grand Duke Gediminas of Lithuania, 1st degree.  The title of the best librarian of the year 2003 was awarded to Zofija Bliujienė for her great contribution to the opening of the new Varėnos District Library and for providing library services to the local community. In 2003, Z. Bliujienė was awarded the "Silver Bee" sign and the District Municipality Culture Prize by the Varėna Council for preserving the written word, promoting the cultural heritage in books and spreading the cultural activities and ideas of her contemporaries.

• In 1968, the library began to acquire a collection of records.

• In 1973, the library was located on the second floor of the Varėna Cultural Centre building. The book collection, reading room, catalogues and card catalogues were housed in one hall. The Printing, Children's Literature, Storage and Exchange/Reserve departments remained in another building.

• In 1976, the library started to work within the centralised library system. Varėna District Library became the central library. New departments were established to carry out different functions: Readers' Services Department, Bibliography Department, Methodology Department, Children's Literature Department, Print Collection and Management Department. Z. Ščesnulevičiūtė, former Head of the District Library, was appointed Director of the Central Library.

• In 1977, the repository fund was organised.

• From 1 January 1997 the District Central Library became the Varėna District Municipal Public Library. The library was granted legal status and the regulations of the public library were approved. In 1999, the district municipality bought a three-storey building in the centre of the town for the library.  However, the building was not suitable for the needs of the library, had to be reconstructed and took almost four years to complete.

• In 2002, the library opened an internet reading room.

• In 2003, the library moved to renovated and modern premises.  On 7 October, the Varėnos District Municipality Public Library building was opened.

• In 2004, the library joined LIBIS (Lithuanian Integrated Library Information System).

• In 2004, the Information Office of the Ministry of Justice was established.

• 1 March 2005. Eitaras Kazimieras Krupovičius took up the post of Director of the Varėnos Public Library on 2005.

• In 2005, the Varėna District Literary Club "Jievaras" was established in the library.

• In 2006, the library prepared and submitted to the Culture and Sports Support Fund the project "In the Land of Childhood: Establishment of the Martynas Vainilaitis Museum and Sculpture Park in the village of Vaitakarčmios".

• In 2009, the library's project "Renovation of the Anselmas Matucis Tree" was implemented. The Varėna Public Library takes care of the tree and the tradition of "Poetry Springs".

• In 2009, the Mushroom Festival for the first time hosted the Book and Singing Poetry Courtyard, organised and hosted by the public library.

• In 2017, the project "Modernisation of Cultural Institutions in Varėna" was launched.

• In 2019, a mobile library was launched.

• In 2022, a giant mural based on the painting "The Tale of the Kings" by our compatriot, Mikolaj Konstantinas Čiurlionis, was painted on the wall of the Library.