Akadeemilise raamatukogu uus fassaad 2012

Tallinn University Academic Library ( et, Tallinna Ülikooli Akadeemiline Raamatukogu) is a research library in

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

with many fields of knowledge, except construction and agriculture. It is located in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

, the capital city of Estonia. The library was founded in April 1946 as the Central Library of the

Estonian Academy of Sciences Founded in 1938, the Estonian Academy of Sciences ( et, Eesti Teaduste Akadeemia) is Estonia's national academy of science in Tallinn. As with other national academies, it is an independent group of well-known scientists whose stated aim is to ...

. The main building of the Tallinn University Academic Library was designed by architects Uno Tölpus and Paul Madalik and was built in 1963. Although the library is relatively young, the Library of St. Olaf's Church (founded in 1552) makes up the oldest part of the collections, including 56

incunable In the history of printing, an incunable or incunabulum (plural incunables or incunabula, respectively), is a book, pamphlet, or broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. Incunabula were pr ...

s dating back to the 15th century and thousands of volumes published between the 16th and 19th centuries. Overall, the library's collection has over 2.6 million physical items. The number of readers is nearly 50,000. Over the years the library has gone through several administrative changes. In the 1990s the library used name ''Estonian Academic Library'' ( et, Eesti Akadeemiline Raamatukogu). In 2003, library become a structural unit of

Tallinn University Tallinn University (TLU; et, Tallinna Ülikool, ''TLÜ'') is a public research university in Estonia. Located in the centre of Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia, Tallinn University is one of the three largest institutions of higher education ...

. The library collects and holds printed and other documents published in Estonia, creating as complete collections of these materials as possible. The library is entitled to an obligatory copy of each and every publication issued in Estonia. As one of the founding members of the Estonian Libraries Network Consortium (ELNET Consortium), the library is one of the leaders in the modernisation of the libraries in the digital era.

Location

The main building of the library is situated in the center of Tallinn, on Rävala puiestee 10. The library has smaller branches by the different colleges of the Tallinn University, including the branches in

Haapsalu Haapsalu () is a seaside resort town located on the west coast of Estonia. It is the administrative centre of Lääne County, and on 1 January 2020 it had a population of 9,375. Description Haapsalu has been well known for centuries for its w ...

and

Rakvere Rakvere is a town in northern Estonia and the administrative centre of the Lääne-Viru ''maakond'' (county), 20 km south of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea. Rakvere is the 8th most populous urban area in Estonia. Rakvere has a tota ...

. The modernist design of the main building was created by architects Uno Tölpus and Paul Madalik in 1963. The building is under protection as architectural heritage.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Academic libraries in Estonia Buildings and structures in Tallinn Libraries established in 1946 1940s establishments in Estonia Kesklinn, Tallinn 1946 establishments in the Soviet Union