On 3 September 2024, Dagnija Baltiņa took up the position of Director of the National Library of Latvia (NLL). Previously, Baltiņa was the Director of the Special Collections Department of the National Library of Latvia, a researcher, lecturer at the Latvian Academy of Culture, and former Secretary General of the Latvian National Commission for UNESCO.

Dagnija Baltiņa is an internationally recognised cultural heritage expert with many years of experience at the Latvian National Commission for UNESCO from 2008 to 2016.  From 2009 to 2011, she represented Latvia on the UNESCO Executive Board as its Vice President, and is an expert on UNESCO’s normative instruments and cultural heritage policies, in particular on the preservation and protection of World Heritage and documentary heritage. Her professional interests focus on the role of libraries in community planning, welfare and development.

Dagnija Baltiņa graduated from Harvard University with a Master’s degree in Public Management and from Brandenburg Technical University with a Master’s degree in World Heritage Studies and also completed an internship at Deakin University in Australia. Currently she is a PhD candidate in History at the Faculty of Humanities, University of Latvia (formerly Faculty of History and Philosophy).

She has been the Head of the Special Collections Department of the NLL since 2018, developing the scientific research activities of the NLL and the organisation and management of special collections.  Under her leadership, she has developed the Library’s research strategy, which highlights the place and importance of research and interpretation in the work of the Library, and managed major research projects and grants, which have been highly commended both nationally and internationally.  Baltiņa has been involved in promoting collection preservation, risk preparedness and initiating contingency plans, and improving requirements for the security, display and distribution of special collections. Baltiņa was also instrumental in securing international representation of NLL at UNESCO, CERL, LIBER, Europeana, ensuring cooperation with other libraries around the world, and leading the NLL event series “500 Latvian Books”.

The Director of the NLL stresses: “The National Library of Latvia is a testament and proof that Latvia’s growth, security and excellence are rooted in a society that reads, appreciates books and knowledge, and is hungry for conversation and exploration. These and other issues that are the responsibility of the National Library are enduring and it will be our task to keep them consistently relevant to the development of Latvia, the strengthening of democracy and the preservation of our rich heritage. I believe that in the coming decade, the National Library of Latvia, working together with all Latvian libraries, public institutions and the private sector, will make the library a tradition, a pillar and valued by every Latvian citizen and institution.”