The National Library of Estonia () is a national public institution in Estonia, which operates pursuant to the National Library of Estonia Act (). It was established as the parliamentary library () of Estonia on December 21, 1918.
According to the act, the National Library of Estonia is the custodian of Estonian national memory and heritage, and acts as the repository centre of the Estonian literature and national bibliography, the main information provider for the Estonian parliament and many other constitutional institutions, a national centre of library and information sciences, a site for the continuing education of librarians, and also as a cultural centre.
Since September 16, 2008, the director general of the National Library is .
Functions
The National Library of Estonia is:
a national library, collecting, storing and making publicly accessible the documents published in Estonia or about Estonia, regardless of their place of publication, maintaining national databases of the Estonian national bibliography and statistics on Estonian print output, serving as the Estonian ISSN, ISBN and ISMN agency; a parliamentary library, providing information services for the Riigikogu, the Government of the Republic, the Office of the President of the Republic, and state authorities; a research library, providing information for research activities in humanities and social sciences, and various information services; a library research and development centre, providing library and information science information, coordinating research, and development activities and library standardisation in Estonia, organising user surveys, and training, and further professional training for the staff of Estonian libraries, publishing materials on library and book science and the Estonian library journal, Raamatukogu, organising national surveys of library statistics and actively participating in international library co-operation; a cultural centre, where various book and art exhibitions are held, along with conferences, concerts, theatre performances, movie evenings and other cultural activities.
Information services
The National Library of Estonia provides information services in the following fields:
humanities: history, ethnology, philosophy, folklore, psychology, religion, culture, linguistics and literary science, Estonian and foreign literature, art, music, film, theatre, etc. social sciences: economics, law, politics, political science, sociology, etc. international organisations: European Union, World Trade Organization (WTO), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations (UN), International Monetary Fund (IMF), etc. international courts: Court of Justice of the European Communities, International Court of Justice (ICJ), etc. information sciences: information science, library science, librarianship, book history, etc. cartography and geography.
Rare book collection specialists offer consultations on old books. There are also archival services on the basis of the institution and personal collections located in the library, conservation services and binding services available.
E-library
E-library has been developed since the mid-1990s and is available on the homepage of the National Library of Estonia. It enables readers to:
use the e-catalogue ESTER; request information on licensed databases and e-journals; submit inquires in the field of humanities and social sciences; read online publications, visit e-exhibitions and purchase the publications of the library; get acquainted with digital collections; use the information resources of The European Library.
Some services are available only to the registered readers of the National Library. They can:
reserve books, journals, written music and other items; renew the due date of books; order copies; order items via inter-library loan.
Collections
On January 1, 2007, the collection of the National Library of Estonia included 3,4 million items including:
1,975,981 volumes of books; 302,988 annual sets of periodicals; 20,954 items of cartographic materials; 117,777 items of sheet music; 180,062 items of graphic art; 7,203 items of manuscripts and archive documents; 2,635 items of standards; 481,088 items of booklets; 43,477 items of audio-visual materials; 1,852 items of electronic materials; 27,198 items of microforms;
Since 1919 the National Library is entitled to receive legal deposit copies of all publications printed in Estonia.