1. The National Encyclopedia of Latvia. Searching for new approaches
Dr. hist. Valters Ščerbinskis
Editor-in-chief

2. Recent history of the universal encyclopedias in Latvia
1980s – last Soviet-era encyclopedia. Traditional methodology, totalitarian content
Early 1990s – bankruptcy of the state-owned editorial office
2014 – decision to start «the project of the Latvian encyclopedia» at the Ministry of Culture which soon developed into the National encyclopedia
2015 – vision, principles and methodolocial approach has been created, editorial office starts to operate
2018 – opening of digital universal encyclopedia and publication of the special volume on Latvia

3. The National Encyclopedia is part of the National Library of Latvia

4. Why encyclopedia?
Educational objective: eternal search for the knowledge
Cultural objective: survival and development of the language
Security dimension: provides easily accessible and trustful source of the information for the widest audience possible
Entertainment element: many people just enjoy surfing encyclopedias

5. What kind of encyclopedia?
Universal (general)
Academic
Electronic (and carefully made decision about printed version, if capacity allows)
Modern in technologies and design
State-owned; efficient in budgetary issues
Transparent and logical in decision-making process
With the very long-term vision

8. What do we need for the encyclopedic co-operation and/or pan-european approach in order to promote information we can trust?
Answer is very simple:
Ambitious vision
Long-term strategy
Clear tactics
Few dedicated people
(certain amount of) money