Small building of RaRa, Narva mnt 11
Mo–Fri 10–20, Sat 12–19, Sun closed
RaRa embassy in Solaris
Mo–Sun 10–19
Collections
One task of the National Library, as provided by the National Library of Estonia Act, is to collect, preserve, and make available all national publications, i.e. printed materials, audio and video recordings, as well as electronic and online publications published in Estonia. We have been collecting these since 1918, when the State Library, predecessor of the National Library, was founded.
Our aim in developing the collections is to support Estonian and Estonia-related humanities and social sciences and the daily work of the parliament and state institutions.
Under the Legal Deposit Copy Act we collect, preserve and make available printed and audiovisual materials, electronic and online publications published in Estonia.
To fulfill the role of the National Library, we comprehensively collect publications issued in Estonia, publications in Estonian published abroad, works by Estonian authors and their translations regardless of the place of publication, as well as publications in foreign languages about Estonia or containing information about Estonia published abroad.
The Humanities Collection includes Estonian and foreign literature, a collection of German-language materials, publications on art, music, history, culture, linguistics, and literary studies, as well as sheet music, maps, postcards, posters, book illustrations, and original prints.
The Social Sciences Collection includes literature on law, social sciences, and information sciences, as well as publications of the European Union and international organisations.
One copy of each publication issued in Estonia is permanently preserved in the Archive Collection. The Archive Collection also includes Estonian works published abroad, translations of Estonian works, and works in foreign languages by Estonian authors. Chronologically, the Archive Collection assembles publications in Estonian since 1861 and publications in foreign languages since 1831.
In the Rare Books Collection, we preserve historically and culturally valuable printed materials in Estonian published before 1861 and foreign-language printed materials published before 1831. The oldest copies date back to the 15th century. Among the more recent publications, there is a selection of materials with autographs, handwritten corrections, ownership marks, and censorship copies, as well as books with artistic bindings, bibliophilic, and luxury editions.
Personal Archives – since 1992, the National Library has also held the personal archives of renowned Estonian cultural figures (e.g., Gustav Ernesaks, Neeme Järvi).
All our collections can be found in the ESTER online catalogue, digitised materials in the ever-growing digital archive DIGAR, and the portal DIGAR Estonian articles.
A Guide to the Historic French Collections, 1584-1900
In 2023–2024, Dr. Sophie Turner, a visiting researcher, has been studying the National Library of Estonia’s Early French collections. Although the collections have been packed away during the library’s renovation, the availability of digital catalogues has allowed the research to continue. The collection comprises around 9000 French works, including books and artworks.