National Library of Latvia
Thanks to the hospitality of the National Library of Latvia (NLL), a part of BOBCATSSS 2018 is going to take place at the NLL building.
The library was founded in 1919, and since the very beginning, its main focus has been the national bibliography and eternal preservation of national publications.
The new library building or Gaismas pils (Castle of Light) was opened in 2014. Designed by the internationally acclaimed Latvian-born architect Gunārs Birkerts, it was named after an eponymous choir piece by the great Latvian composer Jāzeps Vītols and poet Auseklis. The song is a symbol of the struggles of freedom that Latvians have had to face, and it is the most performed piece at the Latvian Song and Dance Festival, which is usually held every five years and gathers tens of thousands of participants.
The collection of NLL reaches 4,5 million units, and alongside general collections like Natural Sciences and Technologies, Humanities and Social Sciences there are also special ones, like rare books and manuscripts, maps, music scores, sound recordings, small prints, and others. All collections have corresponding reading rooms. For example, The Library and Information Science Reading Room can be found on Level 8, almost at the top of the building.
On Level 1, right next to the main entrance is located Ziedonis Hall, named after one of Latvia’s most loved writers and public figures of the 20th century – Imants Ziedonis. The opening ceremony of the symposium is going to be held in this Concert and Conference Hall, and the first day of BOBCATSSS 2018 is going to take place on Level -1 at the Conference Centre.
Website: www.lnb.lv
Virtual tour: http://ture.lnb.lv/en.html
Address: National Library of Latvia (Latvijas Nacionālā bibliotēka), Mūkusalas iela 3, Rīga, LV-1423, Latvija
Academic Center for Natural Sciences of the University of Latvia
The second and third day of BOBCATSSS 2018 is going to take place at the Academic Center for Natural Sciences of the University of Latvia (UL ACNS). It takes 10 minutes to walk there from the National Library of Latvia.
The UL ACNS was opened in 2015. By 2023, it is planned to include the Center in an entirely new, modern and harmonic university campus.
The Center is home to faculties of Biology, Geography and Earth Science, and Chemistry. It also hosts the Optometry and Vision Science Department as well as the bachelor’s and master’s programs in Pharmacy.
Innovative and sustainable solutions have been used when designing the building. For instance, the façade of the building has a double wall, while the south-eastern wall of the Center is covered in concrete blinds, which serve as a natural thermoregulatory mechanism. The building is also equipped with “smart” light switches – built-in sensors, which can determine whether anyone is in the room, and lighting, which turns on and off automatically.
The UL ACNS houses laboratories, auditoriums, a reading room with 130 seats, and individual work capsules. Finally, the top floor of the UL ACNS holds four greenhouses, thus providing all the infrastructure necessary for successful studying of natural sciences.
The Library of Natural Sciences is located on the first floor of the building. Its collection consists of about 26 thousand units, and all of them are freely available at the library. The library is accessible 24 hours a day every day of the week for university students and staff, others are welcome to visit it from 7 AM to 10 PM. The library is equipped with a modern self-service machine for issuing and returning books.
We are glad for the opportunity to hold a part of BOBCATSSS 2018 at UL ACNS, and we are sure that the spacious auditoriums on the first floor will be a perfect fit for our symposium.
Website: http://www.tornakalns.lv/eng/
Virtual tour: http://www.tornakalns.lv/virtuala-ture/
Address: Academic Centre of Natural Sciences (DAC) of the University of Latvia (UL) (LU Dabaszinātņu akadēmiskā centrs) Jelgavas iela 1, Rīga, LV-1004