The Fine Arts Information Centre of the National Library of Estonia

Extract

Key to the provision of art information in Estonia is the National Library’s Fine Arts Information Centre, offering services to some 60,000 visitors each year as well as producing the national bibliographic databases of maps, posters, postcards, sound recordings and sheet music. But co-operation with other major art libraries in Estonia is also flourishing, beginning with the selection of new material for the art and architectural history collections in consultation with scholars in other arts organizations, and culminating in 1999 in the foundation of the Estonian Art Libraries Society. This year, Estonian Book Year, marking the 475th anniversary of the very first known Estonian book, seems an excellent opportunity to describe what is happening in art librarianship in this country.