Mechanical properties of LiB 3 O 5 single crystal plates with different orientation as well as of glass with the same composition have been investigated. The nano-(H) and microhardness (H M ), the reduced Young's modulus (E r ) and the crack behaviour of the samples were studied. Both hardness and Young's modulus of glass appeared smaller in comparison to corresponding single crystal data (H ~ 7 -8 GPa, H M~ 6 GPa, E r ~ 70 -80 GPa for glass and H ~10 -15 GPa, H M~6 -11 GPa, E r~ 93 -155 GPa for single crystal). H, E r , and the plane of crack propagation proved orientation-dependent. Cracks in the glass sample were not observed up to 0.49 N microindentation load, whereas for the single crystal the cracks appeared already at 0.098N. In single crystals the observed cleavage planes {211} and/or {412} are oriented nearly parallel to planes of B-O rings.