Jonas Avyžius Public Library

Jonas Avyžius Public Library of Joniškis District Municipality was founded in 1937 in Joniškis, Lithuania. Valentina Ivanovaitė became the first librarian. At the beginning the Library's collection consisted of 600 books placed in two rooms. In 1940 the public library moved into premises near the centre of town. A lot of books were lost and only a few new books have recently been received. During the war, the library was visited mostly by children as the German establishment, which conscripted adults for forced labour in Germany was in the same building. After the War the library's situation was complicated by the lack of premises, furniture, or skilled employees, but libraries and reading rooms began opening in the villages and rural areas. In 1951 the public library became the district library serving libraries in the district. In 1956 the first librarian having completed higher education in the field, Irena Bernotaitė-Rudokienė, had started as head of the library. The new head started to look for new premises, furniture, to and improve reader services. The library moved six times in that decade. In 1976 all the libraries in the district were connected in a centralized system. Joniškis District Library became the District Central Library with 40 branches in the villages and 1 in Žagarė town. On July 1, 1996, the library changed its name to Joniškis District Public Library. Th

Library data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).