Entry fee for the Castle of Light to be introduced at €3; changes take effect in September

The Ministry of Culture (MC) and the National Library of Latvia (NLL) have prepared a new draft Cabinet regulation that would replace the current fee schedule for paid services. The proposal includes price increases for existing services, the introduction of new paid services, and the removal of outdated ones.

A key new feature is a €3 entry fee for self-guided tours of the library building. This fee will take effect on September 7 to allow time for public awareness. Library card registration and basic library services remain free.

The overdue fine for borrowed materials will rise from €0.10 to €0.50 per item per day. The current personal subscription (€24 per year) will be split into three tiers: home subscription at €40, music collection subscription at €50, and academic subscription at €70 per year.

Text document digitization prices will increase. Digitization without OCR will cost €0.25 per A4 page (up from €0.18) and €0.40 for larger formats (up from €0.35). With OCR, prices will be €0.40 for A4 and €0.65 for larger formats. A new service for preparing data sets from digital collections will be priced individually based on estimates.

Interlibrary loan fees will rise: orders from European countries from €10 to €15, from other countries from €15 to €22, and for newly published works from €16 to €25.

A new package model for ISBN assignment replaces the annual subscription: €7.50 per single ISBN, €30 for five, €55 for ten, €100 for 20, €213 for 50, and €325 for 100.

New rental options include the AsiaRes Room and Youth Room on the mezzanine level at €120 per hour, a Sofa Zone for catering at €80 per hour, and the John F. Kennedy Reading Room on the second floor at €120 per hour. The first-floor atrium (up to 300 sq m) can be rented for coffee breaks at €300 per hour if other spaces are also booked.

The library's data center will offer new AI and HPC services: two GPU cores with 144 GB RAM each for €15,680 per month, infrastructure platform for €400 per month, and configuration work at €84.70 per hour.

Exemptions from the building tour fee apply to attendees of library events, Latvian librarians, and members of ICOM and ICOMOS. On promotional days, there will be 100% discount on tours and 50% on guided excursions. Student groups visiting during organized events are exempt, while schoolchildren and socially vulnerable groups receive reduced rates for certain excursions and classes.

Transitional provisions apply: annual ISBN subscriptions and fees for national publishing association members remain valid until December 31 of this year. A new fee of €30 is set for group excursions in Latvian during library hours. Rents for several spaces, including the conference hall and exhibition halls, will increase.