Libraries in Estonia are divided into several larger groups and work closely together despite their different sectoral affiliations. The main aim is to collect, preserve, and make available to the reader all types of material.
The National Library of Estonia is responsible for:
- collecting, preserving, and making available national cultural treasures and information resources
- research and development
- being a parliamentary and research library
- being a centre for library development and culture
- being a repository library and to receive books and other publications free of charge from the general public, libraries, publishers, and other institutions, with a view to passing them on to various institutions to add to their collections
- being a library for the blind and cater for people with a visual impairment or any other disability, disorder, or disease that prevents them from reading a text in a regular book, so that they can order audio books to take home or use the online library.
On the basis of the Legal Deposit Copy Act, the National Library of Estonia collects and preserves online publications and original digital material. In addition, four libraries in Estonia (the Archival Library of the Estonian Literary Museum, National Library of Estonia, Academic Library of Tallinn University, University of Tartu Library) have the task of collecting and preserving publications in Estonian and in Estonia and of participating in the compilation of the national bibliography.
The Estonian Children’s Literature Centre collects, preserves, researches, develops, and disseminates Estonian children’s and youth literature through a wide range of activities. The library hosts a variety of literary events, which children and professionals are welcome to take part in.
Public libraries
Public libraries are local government institutions, the activities of which are coordinated by the Ministry of Culture. Each county has a county library, which fulfils a national function as a collection, training, and advice centre for other libraries in the county. The collections of public libraries are universal, containing a variety of materials in different languages to meet the basic needs of the locals. Information on county libraries can be found on the website of the Ministry of Culture.
Information on the location of libraries and their websites can be found in the map application.
School libraries
Pursuant to the Basic Schools and Upper Secondary Schools Act, every school must have a library. If the school library does not have the necessary recommended literature, the student can use the local public library.
Research libraries
The role of a research library is to collect, store, and process scientific information, and make it available to all readers. In addition to the National Library, six public universities (University of Tartu, TalTech, Tallinn University, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Estonian Academy of Arts, and Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre) also have research libraries.
Subject libraries
Subject libraries operate mainly as institutional libraries.
E-publications and e-services
The e-catalogues of Estonian libraries ester.ee, lugeja.ee, and webriks.ee contain the entries on books, periodicals, notes, sound recordings, e-resources, etc. of Estonian libraries.
DIGAR is the digital archive or e-library of the National Library of Estonia, where you can find e-books, newspapers, magazines, maps, notebooks, photos, postcards, posters, illustrations, audio books, and music files.
Minu Raamatukogu – MIRKO is a nation-wide free e-borrowing service for e-books, audiobooks, and periodicals. The service is free of charge for users with an Estonian personal identification code. The texts can also be listened to with speech synthesis. Users can also use the platform to order printed books from libraries in Estonia that have joined the platform, either by courier or to a parcel machine (the fee includes the delivery and return of the books).
The portal DIGAR Eesti artiklid provides access to digital and digitised newspapers and magazines and other periodicals published in Estonian in Estonia or abroad through the ages, as well as magazines and other periodicals published since 2017. Index Scriptorum Estoniae, or ISE, a database of Estonian articles, contains articles from newspapers, journals, article collections, and serial publications mainly published in Estonia.
’The Red Book of Estonian Publications’ is a list of national publications important for Estonian cultural memory. Nominees were selected on the basis of their cultural value, availability, preservation risk, and condition. The digitised files are available in the digital archive DIGAR and in the e-catalogue ESTER.