National Library of Estonia
The National Library of Estonia was established as the State Library on 21 December 1918, according to a decision of the Provisional Goverment of Estonia. From the summer of 1919, the library received a legal deposit copy of all publications printed in Estonia. By the end of the 1930s, the collection of the National Library consisted of about 50,000 items.
During Soviet times, the State Library acted as a normal public library. In 1953, it was renamed after Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, the author of the Estonian national epic poem Kalevipoeg. By that time, it had about one million items. The library was renamed once again in 1988, when it acquired its present name the National Library of Estonia. It was appointed parliamentary library each year, to serve the information needs of the parliament and the goverment.
Today, the National Library is a legal entity by law, acting according to the National Library of Estonia Act, passed in 1998.
Operational type
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other non-profit organization
References
National Library of Estonia. 2017. "History." Accessed April 20. http://www.nlib.ee/en/history/.
Last edited on: 2018-01-24 11:29:38
