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HISTORY

The history of the National Library of Estonia (NLE) begins õn December 21, 1918, when the Government of the Estonian Republic passed a law creating the State Library with the aim of collecting printed matter essential for governing the new state. The core collection of the State Library was about 2 OOG books that had belonged to various departments of the local Russian provincial government and the readers were primarily members of the new parliament and the staff of government institutions. The library was housed in two small rooms in the building of the (Parliament), in a wing of Toompea Castle in . Ln the time of the independent Republic of Estonia the library developed and grew quickly. Ln the summer of 1919, the library began to receive a legal deposit copy of all printed matter published in Estonia. The first foreign exchange agreements were made in 1921. Ln 1935 Estonia celebrated the 400th anniversary of the first book in Estonian known at that time - a catechism by Wanradt-Koell. The same year saw the founding of the Mandatory Deposit Collection of Estonian Printed Matter and the systematic acquisition of literature concerning Estonia and the Baltics began. By the end of the 1930’s, judging by the size and composition of its collections as well as readership, the State Library had become much more than a government library. The number of items in the collection reached about 50 000 and the readership comprised several outstanding intellectuals, cultural, and public figures. The construction of a new library building was under consideration but due to the beginning of World War LL it was not carried out. Ln the Soviet period the library was known under the näme of the State Library of the Estonian SSR. Along with the change in näme, the role of the library changed considerably: the bidk of Estonian and foreign publications were placed under restricted access, foreign contacts were cut off and Russian publications (received mostly as manadtory all-union deposit copies) gained predominance. Despite strong ideological pressure, the bulk of Estonian publications was saved from destruction thanks to its status as a research library. Ln 1953, tbe State Library was named after Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, an outstanding public figure of the National Awakening Period of Estonia and author of the Estonian national epic poem "". By 1953, the collection of the library already reached a million items. The liberation movement that begun in the Baltic countries in the second half of the 1980’s as well as the restoration of the independent Republic of Estonia õn August 20, 1991 considerably changed the role of the library. Ln 1988, the Fr. R. Kreutzwald State Library was renamed the National Library of Estonia. Lts primary aim is to collect, store, and make publicly accessible printed matter published in Estonia, in Estonian, and about Estonia. Ln 1989, the National Library of Estonia regained its status as a parliamentary library being responsible for serving the information needs of the parliament and government. This dual function evolved from the historical development of the library and tbe construction of a specially designed library building at Tõnismägi, completed in 1993. The Republic of Estonia and the National Library of Estonia were born in the same year -1918. The development of the library reflects the joys and tragedies of the Estonian nation. The history of the National Library has been the history of our aspirations to have a home of our own.

September 11,1993 has gone into Estonian history as the inauguration day of the National Library of Estonia. The flags of all the of Estonia, displayed in the foyer of the main building, wiil always remind us of our obligations to each individual in Estonia, as well as our duties in the overall development of the country. This day denotes not only the completion of the building but also the readiness of the National Library to have a say in the future of our people and in the destiny of our country.

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■— a book research centre pursuing research in librarianship and information sciences and responsible for related development activities.

— a centre for research õn book preservation and conservation in Estonia.

— a centre for the compilation of the union catalogues of foreign books, journals, and databases acquired by Estonian libraries.

— a national statistical centre õn book publishing and õn Estonian libraries.

— a publisher of material õn book science and librarianship as well as other informational publications.

— the national ISSN, ISBN, and ISSM agency.

— a place where the Estonian Librarians Association is located and where the only Estonian scolarly publication for librarians, the journal Raamatukogu (Library) is published. By the turn of the century the Estonian book wiil be nearly 500 years old. This time period can be considered both long and short. But for a small nation of one million that has been under foreign rule for centuries, it certifies the strength of its national culture.

One of the main functions of the National Library of Estonia is to collect . In 1995, the Mandatory Deposit Collection of the NLE celebrated its 60th anniversary. This is a collection of publications aiming at collecting and preserving printed matter written in Estonian, related to Estonia or printed in Estonia. In 1935 when the collection was founded, a procedure was enforced in the State Library that one copy of each publication printed in Estonia be deposited there. Books published before this date as well as publications printed outside Estonia were acquired either by purchase or as gifts. The present Mandatory Deposit Collection comprises separate collections for books, journals and pamphlets, acquired by the library as mandatory deposit copies. As a rule only one copy of each publication is preserved in the Mandatory Deposit Collection. There äre exceptions to this rule and sometimes books äre acquired in several copies due to différencies in bookbinding and design, as well as due to autographs, signatures, impressions and ex-librises of Estonian dignitaries in different copies. Estonian national literature published over the centuries is recorded in the national bibliography, the compilation of which is one of the main tasks of a national library. The National Library of Estonia compiles and publishes — the current national bibliography of Estonian books õn the basis of the mandatory copy deposited to the library. It is published as a quarterly "The National Bibliography of Estonia. Books", and as a monthly "New Estonian Books". — the current national bibliography of publications and sheet music. — the current analytical national bibliography of Estonian press articles "ARTIKLID." — "ESTONICA", the bibliography of publications related to Estonia, published outside the country. —■ the analytical retrospective national bibliography of Estonian press articles. Like the , the retrospective national bibliography of Estonia needs to be revised. For this purpose the National Library of Estonia cooperates with other research libraries in Estonia: the Library of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, the University Library, and the Archive Library of the Museum of Literature. As a result of this cooperation several volumes of the retrospective Estonian national bibliography have been published. The NLE houses the national statistical centre õn book publishing that compiles Estonian publication statistics under the UNESCO recommendations. The statistical data õn Estonian books and periodicals publishing is sent to the State Statistical Office of Estonia and to the UNESCO. In 1989, the National Library of Estonia regained its initial main function - that is to be a parliamentary library. In 1993, the Reference and Information Analysis Centre was established to provide library and information services to the Riigikogu (Estonian Parliament). The tasks of the Centre äre stated in the Law õn the National Library. The Reference and Information Analysis Centre — provides information and reference services to the Riigikogu and the staff of government institutions in the Reference Reading Room, the Law Reading Room (both located in the main NLE building) and in the Parliamentary Reading Room (located in Toompea Castle). As the National Library is open to the general public, it provides reference services to everybody, although priority is given to members of Parliament and their staff. To provide information the Centre uses the materials from the main reference collection, specialized in-house databases and card files of the centre, as well as all other information sources available in the library. Online searches äre conducted õn the Internet and õn CD-ROMs. — has a universal reference collection. The Centre’s acquisition policy takes into consideration the needs of all three reading rooms. General encyclopaedias from different countries, reference works, statistical abstracts, yearbooks, business catalogues, national bibliographies, and book catalogues äre all collected. The goal of the acquisition policy is to create a comprehensive collection of literature õn law, politics, and economics. In 1995, according to an agreement reached with the Ministry of Justice, a group of specialists was formed that makes recommendations to the library as to which legal books and periodicals should be acquired.

Lennart Meri, President of the Republic of Estonia at the opening ceremony of the I DC — houses the depository collections of 10 international organizations (European Community, United Nations, UNESCO, ILO, World Bank, WTO, IMO, WHO, FAO, ICAO) and gives free access to these materials. — compiles Estonia’s legal bibliography, various bibliographical databases, information packets õn various topics, prepares annotated lists of new acquisitions. — issues publications concerning the activities of the Riigikogu. — registers all Estonian official publications. — according to an agreement reached between the National Library and the State Chancellery, the library’s Archives Department takes care of the Riigikogu archive. In May 1995, the Tallinn Information and Documentation Centre õn the Council of (IDC) was established in the premises of the National Library. The functions of the IDC äre as follows: — dissemination of information õn the goals, activity and achievements of the Council of Europe, — acquisition and storage of the documents and publications of the Council of Europe, — response to inquiries concerning the activities and documentation of the Council of Europe, — mediation of the Council of Europe press releases to the Estonian media, — translation and publishing of various Council of Europe publications, — co-operation with corresponding institutions in Eastern and Central Europe, — organization of seminars õn the Council of Europe. FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF ESTONIA

When Estonia regained its independence, this brought along great changes to the foreign relations of the National Library of Estonia: the world opened to us and we were opened to the world. It is no longer unusual that members of the library staff go abroad to study or to visit other libraries. Various international conferences, seminars, and other meetings with foreign colleagues take place regularly in the library. Contacts with foreign countries have become much more frequent and varied as to their level including front-line librarians and library administrators.

The NLE participates in the work of the following international organizations: — International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) — Conference of Directors of National Libraries (CDNL) — Internationa! Association of Law Libraries (IALL) — Special Libraries Association (SLA) — Section of Archives of Parliaments and Political Parties (SPP) of the International Council of Archives — International Association of Music Libraries, Ar­ chives and Documentation Centres (IAML) — Ligue des Bibliothèques Europeénnes de Recherche (LIBER) -*■ European Centre for Parliamentary Research and Documentation (ECPRD) — Conference of European National Librarians (CENL) — European Information Association (EIA) — Arbeitungsgemeinschaft der Bibliotheken und Doku­ mentationsstellen der Ost-, Ostmittel- und Südosteuro­ paforschung (ABDOS) — "Biblioteka Baltika" (an association of libraries of the Baltic Sea region) -1 International Association of Technological University Libraries (IATUL)

In order to enhance cultural cooperation between the libraries of the three Baltic States, an agreement was reached involving mutual exchange of information, compilation of union catalogues, library automation, exchange of staff and advanced education. Active foreign relations insure the development of an open society and an active exchange of information in which the book is one of the cornerstones. The Foreign Acquisition Department is responsible for the systematic acquisi­ tion of foreign literature and for expanding relations with other countries. The basic acquisition methods äre pur­ chase, donations, and exchange with more than 400 exchange partners from all over the world.

Thanks to cooperation with foreign embassies a number of special reading rooms dedicated to certain countries have been opened in the National Library of Estonia. —1 The first one to open its doors to readers was the Nordic Reading Room in 1994. It covers five countries: , Finland, Norway, , and Iceland. Õn open shelves, reader can find books õn the history, culture, economy, politics, tourism, etc. of these countries. As there is a constant flow of information õn the Nordic countries to the library, the growth of this reading room is an on-going process, involving cooperation with the embassies and cultural institutes of the corresponding countries as well as the Information Bureau of the Nordic Council of Ministers, and private contacts of the staff of the NLE. ■ The Austrian Reading Room was formed õn the initiative of an Estonia-born professor at Salzburg University, Mr Henn-Jüri Uibopuu. Thanks to his active involvement the Austrian Government presented the National Library with a set of publications and videos õn the history, politics and culture of Austria. This welcome cooperation has continued. The collection has been growing constantly and it has developed into an active small library. — The German Reading Room, was opened in 1996, at the initiative of the German Embassy and the Goethe Institute. Their aim was to encourage the study and use of the as well as to bring Germany closer to the . In this cozy reading room, the reader finds CDs, videos and sound cassettes in addition to books. “ There äre preparations under way to open a French as well as a Latin-American Reading Room in the premises of the library. FINE ÄRIS DEPARTMENT

The Fine Arts Department was established in 1992. The regular acquisition of literature õn art and music goes back to 1945 when the library started receiving a legal deposit copy of all such material published in Estonia as well as a Soviet all-union mandatory deposit copy. Systematic acquisition of publications began in the 1950s. In conformity with the overall acquisition policy of the NLE, the policy of the Fine Arts Department has always been to collect and service everything that relates to Estonian art and music.

— The Fine Art Collection is mainly comprised of books õn art and architecture written in both Estonian and foreign languages as well as exhibition catalogues. The library also subscribes to a great number of foreign journals õn art and architecture. The National Library can boast one of the best ex-libris, postcard and poster collections in Estonia. The special collection of illus­ trated Estonian books is also well worth mentioning. — The Map Collection is the largest of its kind in Estonia and the only one that is open to the general public. The acquisition policy emphasizes cartographic material printed in Estonia or related to Estonia, but the department’s goal is to acquire as much quality material as possible õn cartography in general. The oldest printed materials äre maps in Latin (e.g. Livonia Milaria Germanica Communia from an atlas published by Hondius in Amsterdam in 1627). Several rare maps by Baltic-German cartographers as well as the first car­ tographic items printed in Estonia äre also noteworthy items in the collection. The bulk of the cartographic collection is made up of maps and atlases printed du­ ring the Soviet period. A work station has been set up to provide access to electronic and digitized maps. In addition to traditional services, the department compiles retrospective and current map bibliographies. — The Music Section houses the largest general collection of sheet music and sound recordings open to the public in Estonia. From the original small collection — The Theatre and Film Section provides reference of sheet music, a complex unit has evolved where services to theatres, film studios, creative associations, readers can borrow not just sheet music but different and to all those interested in the field. In order to answer types of sound recordings, videos, and literature õn requests for information, the section consults the music as well. The priority in acquisitions is given to collections of the National Library as well as the Estonian sheet music and sound recordings. The private collections of literature õn film and theatre held by other collections of significant Estonian composers and Estonian libraries. Specialists in this section äre performers (E.Tubin, H.Tobias-Deusberg, T.Kuusik etc.) responsible for preparing bibliographies õn the Estonian äre of high cultural value. theatre. RARE BÖÖK DEPARTMENT

Rare books äre the pride of every library’s collection. The collection of rare books of the National Library of Estonia dates back to 1944. The core of this collection was obtained from the libraries of the Tallinn City Gymnasium, the Alexander Gymnasium, the Pärnu Museum and St. John’s Church in . Books were also purchased from private collections of Baltic-German noblemen, from Russian private collections, and from second-hand bookshops. Estab­ lished in 1983, the purpose of the NLS’s Rare Böök Department is to collect, manage and do research õn rare books.

At present, the collection holds publications from the 15th to the 20th centuries, printed in Western Europe, Estonia, and Russia. The chronological border-line used for determining rare Estonian publications is 1860, for rare Russian publications - 1825, and for rare West European publications - 1800 (inclusive). The collection also contains works of outstanding writers and scientists printed during their life-time, copies of books signed by dignitaries as well as collectors’ editions irrespective of their date of publications. Here you can also find books that were once banned, as well as significant achieve­ ments of printing and book-binding. A few original manuscripts acquired over the years also belong to this collection. The Baltica collection is particularly valuable. It comprises important sources õn Estonia printed in the 16th and 17th centuries, works õn Estonia by well- known Baltic-German scholars and writers, as well as works by lesser-known authors dating from the 18th and 19th centuries. There äre also söme legal documents from later periods including decrees issued by the Czar or the local provincial authorities. The oldest book of the collection is Copulata super très libros Aristotelis De a ni ma... (Cologne, 1486) by Lam­ bert us de Monte, a theologian from Cologne. The earliest publications printed in Estonia äre from the 17th century. The oldest among them äre Historischer Prodromus des Lieffländischen Rechtens und Regi­ ments (Dorpat, 1633), a research paper in German by a Tartu University professor named Fr. Menius and Leyen Spiegel (Reval, 1641-1649), a book of sermons by H. Stahl with parallel texts in Estonian and German. The collection of rare books in the NLE is of remarkable cultural and historical value. There is a permanent exhibition of rare books in an adjoining exhibition hall. THE NATIONAL LIBRARY AS AN INFORMATION CENTRE

The National Library is the largest universal information centre in Estonia with the aim of making available all the information sources of the library to the general public and providing access through various telecommunication techniques to the numerous economic, statistical, legal, cultural and other databases. For this purpose an in-house information system was created uniting a number of differently organized databases into a local network. To provide more efficient information services to the Librarys readers most of the internal processes have been fully automatized e.g. recording new acquisitions, cataloguing, circulation etc. Besides providing traditional library services and obtaining information from the reference collections and cardfiles, the system enables information retrieval from the various specialized databases generated in the National Library itself. Online searches äre conducted õn various universal CD-ROM databases, acquired by the library either by purchase or as gifts. Participation in the international computer network Internet enables quick information retrieval and connections with different parts of the world. A homepage of the NLE has been created õn World Wide Web (URL http://www.nlib.ee).

In 1995, the Consortium of Estonian Libraries Network (ELNET) was established. The NLE is one of the seven research libraries forming the Consortium. The aim of the consortium is the complex development of the Estonian inter-library information system. That involves selecting a common userfriendly integrated library system based õn international standards, seeking funding, and finally implementing the system. As a result of this cooperative effort the catalogues of the libraries participating in the consortium wiil be available online to the whole world.

The National Library of Estonia as a research library gives priority to development activities in library science and bibliography, as well as book and information sciences. The results of these scolarly activities äre published in the "Transactions of the National Library of Estonia". The major research areas äre: — book history, history of library science and biblio­ graphy — studies in terminology and linguistics, compiling a multilingual dictionary of librarianship terms — compiling the Estonian subject thesaurus — research in the field of information technology with the aim of creating an information network correspond­ ing to international standards — estimating the state of the collections, preservation and restoration of the cultural heritage THE NATIONAL LIBRARY OF ESTONIA AS A CULTURAL CENTRE

Besides being a library, the National Library of Estonia functions also as a cultural centre where various book and art exhibitions äre held along with concerts, conferences and other cultural activities. The National Library is a perfect partner for those involved in exhibition activities as the library by its nature is a place inspiring cultural contacts. In the day-to-day work the staff of the library cooperates with various cultural institutions all over the world.

The new building and its exhibition halls, arcades and hall galleries with their neutral limestone walls have inspired several artists to display their work here. The exhibitions held in these premises have been very varied. Books, photo and art works by distinguished masters and students have been displayed in these halls. In cooperation with several foreign embassies the National Library has carried out significant cultural projects involving concerts, exhibitions and conferences. EESTI RAHVUSRAAMATUKOGU

4-96-01394

Architect е Karp Interior Designer ШVahtra Period of Construction 1985-1993 Net Usable Floor Space 38 271 m2 Depositories (Stack Space) 13 206 m2 Volume 154 540 m3 Capacity of Depositories 5 million items Reader Desks 1000

As of January 1,1996, the National Library of Estonia collections contained

Total 3,4 million items Böök: ; and Pamphlets 1,9 million items Perio licals SheetSheettMusic Music ■ 11 FuOQJâe Audio-visual information,oarriers^ ^2 000 it« Printed art 135 000île I-Maps 1 ' Jg CjT' • 1M00 ite

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Compiled by Triin Soone Translated by Ursula Roosmaa Photos by Teet Malsroos Design by Sulev Vahtra Layout by Kadri Possul Printed by Tallinn Böök Printers Tallinn, Estonia, 1996