The Academic Library of Tallinn University is one of the most comprehensive research libraries of Estonia in all fields of knowledge, except construction and agriculture. It is located in Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia.
The library was founded in April 1946 as the Central Library of the Estonian Academy of Sciences. 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 incunables 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 40,000.
Over the years the library has gone through several administrative changes. 1990s the library used name Estonian Academic Library, in 2003, library become a structural unit of Tallinn University.
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.