Martin Öövel
Raine Karp
1918
National Library of Estonia (RaRa) is a legal person governed by public law that was established in 1918 and operates on the basis of the National Library of Estonia Act, other legislation and the library’s articles of association. Its highest governing body is the Board which is appointed by the Riigikogu (Parliament).
RaRa is open to everyone. It is also a competence and development centre for the Estonian library network – develops nationwide e-services, offers vocational and continuing education, collects statistics on Estonian libraries and printed publications, acts as the national agency for international standard numbers, is responsible for professional standardisation and terminology, coordinates the collection of legal deposit copies, acts as a conservation and preservation competence centre for print heritage.
As a research library, RaRa specialises in the humanities and social sciences.
As a parliamentary library, RaRa serves the Riigikogu, the Government, and ministries.
After the merger of the Estonian Repository Library and the Estonian Library for the Blind with the National Library in 2023, RaRa also serves these user groups.
On 6 May, the National Library of Estonia presented the essay collection “That First Book. 500 Years of Shared Written Culture”, published to celebrate the Year of the Estonian Book. The collection is a collaborative effort between the national libraries of Estonia and Latvia.