Publishers:
	2006
		Issued 6 numbers a year

2006 nr. 4

EDITORIAL

CONTENTS

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EDITORIAL Dear colleague, A rural library has not been a dark and damp corner already for long. It is a spacious and swell temple of knowledge. This is how Marju Roosileht, a librarian from Viljandi county, describes Räpina Library, visited during her study trip to South-East Estonia. She admires the atmosphere of Värska Library, the richness of colour of Vastseliina, and the presentability and functionality of the Library of Väimela Centre of Vocational Education. The participants of the Public Libraries’ Seminar Camp noticed the memorable design of Kõrveküla Library, the light and comfort of Elva Town Library, the spaciousness of Kambja Library and the bright shine of Rannu Library in Tartu county. Every library must ideed have a look that corresponds to the needs and possibilities of local people, and this does not concern only appearance, but also the content. But there is a hazard warning signal on. There is a constant talk about a need for compulsory acquisition lists of Estonian literature and common acquisition centre. In the Public Libraries’ Seminar Camp, Tiiu Valm, the Director General of the National Library of Estonia, opposed Asko Tamme, the Chief Librarian of Tartu Public Library, as following: “Nobody needs that every village library will become a small national library!” Let as imagine such a library that acquires Estonian literature in full or almost entirely. Bookshelves from wall to wall and from floor to ceiling. How would it be possible to accommodate everything in any other way! A part of the collection will be unused on the principle that “perhaps someone will read it ten years later”. Behind the circulation desk there will be an employee without special education, because he does not need education, when acquisition and cataloguing are done and information requests answered elsewhere. But all this is still a minor worry. If it is the most profitable for a publisher to publish works by Estonian writers, then it not difficult to predict that everything that authors of various quality level will bring to them will be published. Do libraries have then funds to buy also world literature and other information carriers? Onwards we will only turn into a pond that considers itself a hub, instead of being a part of European and world culture. Ene Riet Editor

CONTENTS

FIRST COLUMN About the Culture of Reading - Indrek Jürjo Reading as a phenomenon has undergone great qualita­tive changes during its development and has in time differed between people of different social status or other kind of group belonging. The mo­dern reading culture began in the 18th century with the boost of print production. Then the reading practices of people changed, shifting from repeatingly reading religious texts to one-time reading for the purpose of widening one’s knowledge or simply at one’s leisure. The modern culture of reading seems to be jeopardised by the invasion of audiovisual media already for decades. We have entered the new era with the advent of the Internet. It is not yet sure what results it will bring for the culture of books and reading, but it already is obvious that the Internet-based possibilities to acquire information and make texts available increasingly generate more hasty and casual reading habits. BECOMING RICHER BY READING A Three-dimensional Model of Reading Skills - Meeli Pandis In technological era, demands on literacy con­ti­nuous­ly grow, causing ever major problems to those, who fall behind in this realm. The goal of the article is to discuss the essence of literacy and reading skills and its components. Three levels or functions of lite­racy can be distinguished: formal or elementary literacy; functional or survival literacy; recreative or reproductive literacy. The piece ends with the presentation of a model of reading skills of three components and corresponding readers’ profiles. Who writes? Who reads? The Relationship Bet­ween the Authors and Readers of Juvenile Books - Ele Süvalep In Estonian literary tradition, juvenile literature is predominantly defined by its addressee, that is by its target group – teenage readers. Though writings of the young people themselves cover an important part among juvenile books, their authors generally represent older generation. The article discusses, how big role does the personality of the author has besides the role of the text itself, is it possible to hide the “oldster’s attitute”, and does a skilled writer can sufficiently enter into the world of young people. TEN YEARS OF THE ESTONIAN LIBRARIES NETWORK CONSORTIUM (ELNET) The ELNET Consortium – Estonian Libraries Coope­ration Project - Mare-Nelli Ilus The Estonian Libraries Network Consortium has reached its first jubilee – in this year, ten years passed from its foundation meeting. In 1996, Estonian research libraries made a decision of principle to establish the ELNET Consortium and join an infor­mation system INNOPAC. It started from taking into use the cataloguing module. In 2000, the jointly generated database was named ESTER. Retrospective conversion is a continuing problem that was set a priority for the projects of 2006. Mediating electronic scientific information through joint acquisition forms another major field of activities. The digitisation policy for the Consortium is expected to be drafted by the Digitisation Working Group. On 25 October 2006 the jubilee of the ELNET Consortium will be celebrated with a report meeting in the Conference Hall of Tartu University Library. RESEARCH LIBRARIES The Best Channel of Worthy Information - Martin Hallik Tartu University Library pays special attention to the acquisition of electronic databases for supporting the research and educational activities of the uni­versity’s scientists and students. The abundance of databases justifies itself, however, in case the users can find from them information, they need; hence, the library’s priority for the closest years will be developing the information literacy of its users. On the other hand, the conversion of card catalogues into the electronic catalogue are of critical importance, too. In 2006, Tartu University Library launched a support programme for enhancing the financing of the library’s activities. The key issues are to solve the basic problems related to infrastructure and technical equipment and to become a competitive employer. Libraries for Arts and Humanities in the Information Society - Esko Häkli A paper presented at the seminar “The Role of the Lib­raries for Humanities in the Information Society”, held on 8 February 2006 in the National Lib­rary of Estonia. All libraries depend upon electronic means and this dependence is increasing all the time. We do not know, however, how many libraries in the future can operate in the virtual reality only, or will there exist libraries at all, when library users will switch over to online. The paper focuses on electronic library services, access to electronic publications, digitising existing collections and collections of printed materials. Libraries for humanities must define their long-term goals and act according to them. It is important to cooperate. Librarians in Research Libraries for Humanities in the Information Society - Piret Lotman Now and again, we come across reproaches in the press, written by people involved in humanities, blaming that Estonian libraries do not sufficiently support their activities. In the author’s mind, there are several reasons for considering the information needs of researchers in humanities of second-rate importance: on one hand, objective (shortage of money) and general (pressure of business world priorities); on the other hand, there are historical roots for this in Estonia. The article gives an overview of the latter. NOTA BENE! In-service Training for Librarians in the Current Academic Year Provided by Tallinn University, the National Library of Estonia and Viljandi Academy of Culture of the University of Tartu. PUBLIC LIBRARIES Integrated Leisi Library - Tiiu Kullamäe An overview of three libraries of Leisi Commune at Saaremaa. The integration of Leisi Secondary School’s library and Leisi public library, and the distinctive features of the library’s current activities are more thoroughly focused upon. E-LIBRARY Something About Character Recognition or About a Certain Comparison Test - Vaido Vähk, Heiki Epner The authors of the article compared two pro­g­rammes, Adobe Acrobat 7 Standard and Abby FineReader 7 Standard, to find the most reasonable and effective method for character recognition of the texts displayed on scanned texts. They chose old, somewhat worn out and tarnished works for testing. The analysis proves that FineReader is more reasonable for character recognition, because Adobe Acrobat made twice and a half times more mistakes. Original images and TIFF CCITT-4 format, which enables to generate small files, should be used. CRITICAL REVIEW People, Books, Buildings - Kalju Tammaru A critical review of Tartu Public Library’s publication, Majad, raamatud, inimesed: 90 aastat Tartu Linnaraamatukogu (Buildings, Books, People: 90 Years of Tartu Public Library; Tartu, 2005). TERMINOLOGY Information and Concepts that Relate to It - Elviine Uverskaja The introduced terms have been taken into use by the Department of Information Studies of Tallinn Uni­versity and discussed and approved by the Termi­no­logy Section of Estonian Librarians’ Association. THE EUROPEAN UNION AND WE Information and Consulting Services for Citizens - Aigi Kasvand The present piece introduces consulting services for persons seeking work, created by the EU institutions. ESTONIAN LIBRARIANS’ ASSOCIATION Summer Seminar on the Island of Hiiumaa - Urve Vakker An overview of the 15th Summer Seminar for Rural Librarians, “Rural Libraries as Information Centres”, held on 27–30 June on Hiiumaa. Public Libraries’ Seminar Camp - Ene Riet An overview of the 25th Public Libraries’ Seminar Camp, held in Tartu county at Nõo. CONFERENCES & SEMINARS International Émigré Baltic Conference in Tartu - Merike Kiipus An international conference of émigré Baltic archives was held from 27 June up to 1 July in the Estonian Literary Museum. Its primary goal was to get an overview of the currect state of émigré Baltic cultural heritage and problems related to its preservation. The memorandum approved by the conference stressed the need to establish an international cooperation network ja information centre via common electronic information portal. Librarians of Viljandi County Took a Trip to Seto, Võru and Põlva Regions - Marju Roosileht An overview of libraries, seen by the librarians of Viljandi county during their study trip to South-East Estonia in May 2006. RECALLING Ida Sutt-Reima, Head of Põltsamaa Library - Siiri Õunap About the activities of Ida Sutt-Reima (31.08.1890–20.11.1956) as the founder and developer of Põl­tsamaa library. NEWS The Architectural Contest for the Conception of the New Building of the Library of Tallinn Univer­sity of Technology Came to an End Tallinn University of Technology hopes that the construction works of the library’s new building will be finished in 2008, when the university celebrates its 90 th anniversary. Exhibition of the Library of Rumyantsev In June 2006, an exhibition “The Library of Count Nikolay Petrovich Rumyantsev in Russian Cultural Life”, compiled on the basis of the Russian State Library’s collection, was exposed in the National Library of Estonia. Congratulations: Helgi Vihma – 75 – a long-standing terminologist at the National Library of Estonia, a compiler and editor of Estonian library journal, Raamatukogu Arda-Maria Kirsel – 80 – a long-standing Head of the Processing Department of the Academic Library of Tallinn University; a member of the ELA Classification and Indexing Committee; the leader of the Working Group for compiling the Estonian UDC classification system and an editor of the Estonian language version In memoriam: Tiiu Erlemann – a long-standing Director of Tartu County Library NEW BOOKS

ARCHIVE

2006 - 3, 2, 1 2005 - 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 2004 - 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 2003 - 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 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