Publishers:
	2003
		Issued 6 numbers a year

2003 nr. 2

EDITORIAL

CONTENTS

ARCHIVE

Dear colleagues, The following is about cultural trauma. Such a term was used by a lector at the Tallinn Pedagogical University Aili Aarelaid at this year’s speech meeting of the Estonian Librarians’ Association, where she, in my mind, evaluated immense cultural changes of the past decade as generally traumatic experience for an individual. In that connection, she stressed that the vanishing of collective farms’ system had caused the destruction of local rural culture, largely financed by the system. In my opinion, that Estonians have rather had to conform to the situation, like we faced, however, a more serious adjustment process during the Soviet ideology area. To those who are interested in the subject, I recommend to explore, for example, a collective work Kohandumise märgid (Signes of Conformation; Tallinn, 2002), where the Estonian intellectuals’ strategies and tactics of conformation in 1940-1980 are analysed. Conformation is linked to something new and unknown. And everything that reached us in 1991 was new and unknown to the greater part of us. For me the change of the social structure, which indeed should be a shock to anybody, was, first and foremost, an opening of the door to liberty. We all were offered discretion. An open society certainly favours the emancipation of indiviaduals and independent thinking, totalitarianism, in turn, cringing. Did the large variety of options traumatize me? No. Perhaps I was poorly adapted to the current cultural-ideological discourse; nevertheless, farewell was not a traumatic experience. By its nature, all mental culture is conformation to the situation and new challenges should not be too swinging for intellectuals. Already in the second half of 1980s, postmodernism was referred to in the Estonian literature that was sometimes called “looking towards the West”. (So did Aarelaid.) Obedience and reticence was consequently replaced with transparency and I cannot say if the price we are paying now is too high, compared with the price we payed in the 20th century. This is a sentence that many readers are not going to forgive me for nothing. Although postmodernism is considered to be devalued today, it has, nevertheless, presented outrageous alteration. This is again a question of choice. As we know, a number of Estonian readers did not like Emil Tode’s Piiririik (Border State; 1993) for the hint about our ability to adjust ouselves, about the difficulties in giving up a so-called East- European habit of mind. Maire Liivamets

CONTENTS

FIRST COLUMN It Feels Good to Belong to Somewhere - Elle Tarik On the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the Estonian Librarians’ Association, its refounding member Elle Tarik ponders upon the essence of the enchantment of joint action. She is of the opinion that Estonian librarians’ self-concept and self-evaluation have grown due to the impact of the association. She highlights three effective aspects of the association’s work: the approach of librarians from different types of libraries to common problems; events that draw together members, dispersed all over Estonia; and the regular publication of the ELA’s Yearbook. NATIONAL INFORMATION POLICY Libraries Developing Information Society – Active Participants or Future Book Museums? - Ene Loddes Widespread use of information and communication technologies and information becoming a commodity concerns also libraries. Libraries are important public sector institutions both in the field of creating the Web content as well as providing information services. Estonian libraries have taken the following courses of action in the electronic environment: providing access to the world electronic scholarly information; creating the Web content (electronic catalogues, compilation of bibliographic databases, digitation of cultural heritage, publishing on the Web); preserving electronic information (Web publications, electronic documents on physical carriers, complex information services). ERIK@ - Janne Andresoo In 2000 the National Library of Estonia launched a project ERIK@, aiming to create an environment for collecting, registering and archiving of documents of national cultural value. An Overview of an Information Policy Forum - Toomas Schvak An overview of a forum The Information Technology versus the Content Industry, held at the National Library of Estonia on 27 February and organised by the National Library, Tallinn Pedagogical University, Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, and Open Estonia Foundation. The papers treated the following themes: 1) the information society development and coordination through the activities of the public, private and the third sectors; 2) the power, problems and challenges of the information society’s content industry; 3) information resources and services provided by the public sector in the digital environment. Commentary for the Information Policy Forum - Peeter Marvet During the recent years, weblogging initiatives have tremendously increased in number. As the content of the material published on the Internet is easy and convenient to change, it is often done several times a day. A number of hyperlinks is being created during the alterations. Proceeding from this, it is more important than ever that the preservation of the content of the Internet is some way or the other organised. The author provides his proposals for archiving and cataloguing of Web publications. PUBLIC LIBRARIES Libraries and Money - Inga Kuljus The director of the Võru County Central Library focuses on the problem of county central libraries’ acquisition costs. Albeit the population of the whole county uses the county central library’s services, the library is allocated sums from the state budget according to the number of residents of the town it is located in. The author suggests to enlarge state subsidy for the county central libraries’ acquisition. The Acquisition Money and Libraries - Meeli Veskus A Counsellor on Library Affairs of the Ministry of Culture gives an overview of the basis of the distribution of state allocations for public libraries’ acquisition. For the year 2003, the Ministry of Culture have signed contracts with the local authorities, responsible for central libraries’ management, which state that a central library may leave 10% of the allocations for acquisitions undistributed among the libraries of the county, forming a reserve that central library can exploit according to the needs. The trials and hopes of the Tartu Public Library - Asko Tamme On the night before 20 December an air pipe of the heating system exploded in the attic of the Tartu Public Library, flooding the service area of the department of technical literature, reading rooms, the Internet access room, and the chancellery. The article describes the damages and their liquidation, as well as the library’s future perspectives. Although capital repairs of the building are planned to start with in the autumn, the library’s staff is of the opinion that it would be cheaper and more reasonable to erect a new building for the Tartu Public Library. ART LIBRARIES Art Literature at the Tartu Public Library - Piret Kiivit A brief overview of the history, acquisition principles and content of the library’s music and art literature department. Supporter of the Independence of Art - Mare Pedanik An overview of the Estonian Centre for the Modern Art and its library. The activities of the centre are focused on three basic programmes: 1) the information centre; 2) the promotion of Estonian art and its mediation to international TV cultural events; 3); the initiation of a yearly event (exhibition, conference), mediating the invitation of international specialists into Estonia. The author also introduces documents in the centre’s library, emphasising that the basis for acquisition is directly related to the basic goal of the centre. A list of the centre’s publications is also added to the article. RESEARCH LIBRARIES A Night Library – A Dream That Has Come True - Tiina Kuusik On 19-23 January a pilot project was carried out at the Tartu University Library with an aim to provide university students with an opportunity to work at the library later at night than usual at the end of the term. 900 student used the opportunity. Answering a questionnaire, the users of the so-called night library stressed the need for repeating an analogue project and expressed their wish that the period of prolonged opening hours should be even longer. DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES A National Library of Estonia’s Standard – A New Guidelines Document - Endla Sandberg On 1 January 2003 the first National Library of Estonia’s standard RRS 1:2002 Standardimine raamatukogunduses. Põhimõtted ja reeglid (Library Standardisation – Principles and Rules) came into force. It briefly outlines drawing up National Library of Estonia’s and Estonian national standards and what should be taken into account in using standards. RECENT LITERATURE ON LIBRARIANSHIP INTERVIEW Being an Estonian in a Foreign-language Working Environment - Leili Lindvest A Viljandi College of Culture’s student’s interviews with the staff members of Tallinn Central Library’s Foreign Literature Department Siiri Alvela, Eha Elmi and Ave Gorjatshko. Library Is a Place Visited for Learning Something… - Veronika Raudsepp A Viljandi College of Culture’s student’s interview with the librarian at the Concordia International University Estonia Marje Tamre. The library’s collection includes a large selection of periodicals and textbooks, and it also functions as an European documentation centre. THE ANSWER PLACE The Deputy Director of Tartu Public Library Õie Tammisaar, the Head of Tallinn Central Library’s Kännukuke Branch Shvea Sogenbits and a lecturer at the Viljandi College of Culture Aivi Sepp ponder upon the importance of Estonian library journal Raamatukogu. BOOK HISTORY About a Secret Publication of Eesti rahva ajaraamat - Kadri Tammur Spatial replanning of the Tartu University Library premises in the recent years has brought into daylight several previously problematic publications – books which content does not, for some reason, match their cover titles. In this way, the Manuscripts and Rear Books Department of the library have received a secret publication, now already valued as a rare book. In other words, between the covers of Elina Öpik’s book Talurahva mõisavastane võitlus Eestis Põhjasõja esimesel poolel 1700-1710 (The Struggle of the Peasants Against the Landlords in Estonia During the First Half of the Great Nordic War 1700-1710; Tallinn, 1964) there is hidden Arvo Mägi’s Eesti rahva ajaraamat (The Annals of the Estonian People) that was published by Eesti Päevaleht in Stockholm 1979. ESTONIAN HISTORY OF IDEAS The Untarnishable Gold of the Youth - Rein Ruutsoo A review of a book of essays Nooruse tuhmumatu kuld (The Untarnishable Gold of the Youth) by Gustav Suits, edited by Peeter Olesk and Hando Runnel and published in the series Eesti mõttelugu (Estonian History of Ideas) in 2002. A poet and an ideologist of a literary group Noor-Eesti (Young Estonia) Gustav Suits had a vital role in the history of Estonian culture, but also in the development of our socio-philosophical ideas. The collection presents a selection of his essays. FRIEDRICH REINHOLD KREUTZWALD – 200 A Popular Science Magazine The World and Something of What It Contains. For the Beneficial and Tutorial Entertainment of the Estonian People - Vello Paatsi In 1848-1849 the first attempt was made to publish an Estonian-language illustrated popular science magazine, titled Ma-ilm ja mõnda…On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of its compiler, the founder of our national literature Freidrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, the National Library of Estonia published the magazine’s facsimile in 700 copies. The article briefly touches upon the importance of the publication, predominantly treating the natural science issues, in shaping the world views of the Estonian peasantry and school children. CRITICAL REVIEW Library as a Social Space - Maire Liivamets A critical review of a collection Puudutus (The Touch), compiled and published by the Tartu University Library (compiled by Kristina Pai; published in Tartu 2002, 181 pages). The collection includes 17 texts of fiction that more or less touch upon libraries. ESTONIAN LIBRARIANS’ ASSOCIATION Annual and Speech Meeting The theme of this year’s speech meeting, held in the National Library of Estonia’s Conference Hall on 28 February, was the modern Estonian Culture. The speakers at the forum were the researchers at the Tallinn Pedagogical University’s Research Centre of Modern Culture Aili Aarelaid and Indrek Tart. On the occasion of 80 years from the establishment of the association in February and 15 years from its refoundation in July this year, the President of the association Krista Talvi gave a brief retrospective overview of its activities during the passed decades. Ludmilla Dubjeva, Hele Ellermaa and Katrin Kaugver were selected the new members of the association’s Board for 2003-2004. The President Krista Talvi and the Board members Janne Andresoo, Reet Raudkepp, Endla Schasmin, Marje Tamre and Mihkel Volt continue their activities. The Estonian Librarian’s Association’s Annual Prize of 2002 was given to the director of Viljandi Town Library Evi Murdla. A long-standing chief librarian at the Central Library of Lääne County Mare Ektermann and a senior librarian at the Archival Library of the Estonian Literary Museum Heino Räim shared the Prize of Merits. NEWS In brief: On 1 January 2003 the regulation for Library Loan Compensation came in force. An integrated acquisition plan for research libraries is being drawn up. The Rebirth of the Library of Alexandria Bibliotheca Alexandrina Congratulations: Liisa Düüna – 60, a long-standing Director of the Lääne-Viru County Central Library; Juta Laasma – 60, a long-standing Director of the Estonian Standard Library, currently the chief bibliographer of a non-profit organisation Estonian Centre for Standardisation Valve Jürisson – 70, a long-standing Head of the National Library of Estonia’s Music Department, the founder of Estonian music librarianship; Estonian state decorations were awarded to Tiiu Valm, Ivi Eenmaa and Liisa Düüna. A replica: Ellen Arnover

ARCHIVE

2003 - 1 2002 - 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 2001 - 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

2000 - 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 1999 - 6, 5, 4, 3, 2