ANNUAL REPORT 1998

Contents of the Annual Report in Estonian

I. General
II. Staff
III. Acquisitions
IV. Cataloguing
V. Bibliographies
VI. Collections management
VII. Public services
VIII. Library and Bibliographic Instruction
IX. Research
X. Publishing
XI. Co-operation with Estonian libraries
XII. International co-operation
XIII. Library committees, councils and boards
XIV. Continuous learning of the staff
XV.Trade Union
 
 
 

Appendices

I. Collections (by ISO 2789)
II. Collections (by item count)
III. Acquisitions in 1994–1998 (by item count)
IV. Acquisition sources in 1998 (by ISO 2789)
V. Acquisitions (statistics)
VI. Use of acquisition sums in 1996–1998
VII. Growth of the collections
VIII. Cataloguing of periodicals in 1995–1998
IX. Bibliography files (by Dec. 31, 1998)
X. Electronic databases created in the library (by Dec. 31, 1998)
XI. Archival collections processed in 1998
XII. Structure of library patrons (by Dec. 31, 1998)
XIII. Public services (statistics)
XIV. Circulation (counted by staff)
XV. Restoration and conservation (statistics)
XVI. Exhibitions and patron events (statistics)
XVII. Exhibitions
XVIII. Patron activities in the library
XIX. Publications
XX. Articles, bibliographic lists and news articles published by staff
XXI. Electronic publications by staff
XXII. Presentations made by staff
XXIII. Lectures and lecture courses held by staff
XXIV. Conferences, seminars, meetings
XXV. Business trips and travels abroad
XXVI. Reports on business trips and travels abroad
XXVII. Structure of the library and the list of staff (Jan. 1, 1998 – Dec. 31, 1998)
XXVIII. Staff members with academic degrees (by Dec. 31, 1998)
XXIX. Members of ELA (by Dec. 31, 1998)
XXX. News
 
 
 

I. General

Tartu University Library (founded in 1802) is operating according to its statutes, adopted in 1997, as a national and state universal research library. In the structure of Tartu University, the library reported to the First Vice-Rector up to June 1, 1998. Since June 1, after the election of the new Rector, and changes in the Rector’s Office, the library reports directly to the Rector.

Director Peeter Olesk, Deputy Director Toomas Liivamägi, and Managing Director Heiki Epner filled the administrative positions of the library.

The year of 1998 could be characterised by two key words: INNOPAC (an integrated library system applied simultaneously at seven major Estonian research libraries) and money.

During the year under review, the most exciting event in the life of the library was the implementation of INNOPAC. The inner work organisation of the library and public services did not, however, undergo any noticeable changes, which are still in the stage of preparation.

Underfinancing, especially when compared with other Estonian research libraries, has become the major obstacle to systematic development of the library. This year did not bring a breakthrough, but at least the problem was publicly discussed and the Rector’s Office has recognised the importance of the issue.

Several departments of the library celebrated their 40th anniversaries — in 1958 the library had been given the status of a scientific research library, accompanied by the restructuring of the library and the growth in staff numbers.

1998 was the year when the Conference Centre of the library started working with full capacity, accommodating lectures, international and scientific conferences, and anniversary celebrations held by a variety of institutions and organisations, starting with different university offices up to the Parliament of the Estonian Republic.

Meeting our request, the Mellon Foundation asked three university library directors from the USA — Robert M. Hayes (Los Angeles), Paul H. Mosher (Philadelphia) and Martin D. Runkle (Chicago) — to visit Tartu University Library and familiarise themselves with its work. This task force compiled a written rapport containing the general evaluation of the library and an analysis of its operation, and a comparison with a number of Eastern European and American libraries. The main points made by the American experts, who had seen many libraries of the world, were the following:

• if the acquisition sums of the library remain on their current level, Tartu University will not be able to fulfil its research and teaching tasks specified in its strategic development plan;
• compared with many Eastern European libraries, Tartu University Library offers its patrons high quality services (a pleasant surprise for the experts);
• The qualifications of the staff were found sufficient, but problems concerning the structure of the library and its position in the university need immediate solution (the structure of the library reminded the experts of American libraries of the 1950s);
• As the functions of the library exceed those of an ordinary university library, the additional support from the state would be natural.

II. Staff

As of Dec. 31, 1998, the number of FTE staff in the library was 298,25 (334 staff members). The number of FTE professional staff was 227,5 (251 staff members), FTE support staff was 70,75 (83 workers).

Of professional staff, 183 have higher education, 6 have college education, and 62 have graduated from secondary schools. 40 staff members have higher professional education, and 6 staff members have a scientific degree.
 
 

III. Acquisitions

Acquisition sums for 1998 were 7.0 million EEK, being 96,6% of the sums allocated for the year of 1997, and 64,8% of those for the year of 1996. As a result, the development of library collections has practically stopped. Co-operation with other Estonian libraries became essential and purchases of very expensive scientific journals and databases were discussed and co-ordinated. Several foreign projects offered help, and different organisations and publishers helped to cope with the situation, enabling the library to subscribe for scientific journals and monographs with a generous discount.

In relation with the implementing of INNOPAC, Conspectus (methods offering a framework for co-ordinated collection development and evaluation of the existing collections) became an actual topic in Estonian major libraries, as the acquisition areas and levels adopted in Estonia in 1994 have become obsolete.
 
 

Acquisitions of the year are summed up in the Table.
 
 

IV. Cataloguing

In 1998 records were entered into card catalogues and into the electronic catalogue of the library, INGRID, as well. During this year 56% of new acquisitions were catalogued electronically. Considering the implementation of INNOPAC in the near future, a decision was made to enter all materials written in the Latin script and published since 1945 into the electronic catalogue. (During the recent four years, only materials published since 1990 were entered into the electronic catalogue). Retrospective conversion of library materials formed an important part of the department’s activities (library materials, which had previously been catalogued on cards were entered into the electronic catalogue, and given call numbers; full catalogue entries were made for these materials, regarding all duplicate copies in different collections).

The Thesaurus Workgroup, created in 1997, continued systematic reorganisation of the thesaurus, which had developed as a by-product of the work of adding subject headings to catalogued materials. The thesaurus will be alphabetically re-examined, the work has reached the letter K. By the end of 1998 the thesaurus contained 13 881 subject headings.
 
 

In 1998, the catalogues and files of the library were supplemented as follows:

1. 12 098 entries were made for books and other materials (dissertations, author’s abstracts, prize papers, offprints, geographical maps).
2. 850 titles of books, published since 1945 were retrospectively converted, and 4461 titles of books, published up to 1944 were retrospectively catalogued.
3. 43 407 copies of periodicals were catalogued, 26 985 copies of periodicals were retrospectively catalogued.
4. About 56 000 cards were added to alphabetical and topographical catalogues.
5. 18 678 titles of books and serials were classified; 18 490 documents were given subject headings.
6. 29 523 cards were added to systematic catalogues.
7. 4450 cards were added to subject catalogues.
8. About 9400 cards were withdrawn from the catalogues, as the materials were discarded.
9. 20 7000 cards were revised in systematic catalogues.
10. About 450 new titles were added into the alphabetic and subject catalogues of the Estica collection by reviewing new arrivals to the library.
11. Lists were made for five manuscript collections — A. Valmet, V. Hiie, V. Sinaski, and H. Moosberg collections, and the library archive materials for 1995.
12. About 3000 new entries were made into the card and sheaf catalogues (alphabetic and systematic) of Manuscripts and Rare Books Department, including

• ongoing work of the cataloguing of Western-European publications of the first half of the 16th century (85 titles);
• ongoing work of the cataloguing of German autographs from F. L. Schardius autographs collection (154);
• cataloguing of new items in the art collection (26 titles) and photograph collection (883 titles).

V. Bibliographies

In the field of bibliography, five themes were continued throughout 1998, and files or databases were added upon. This work will result in published bibliographies.

1) Tartu University. History. Biographical Bibliography of the Faculty, Staff and Alumni (1632–1710, 1802–1998?)

Materials acquired by the library during the year of 1998 were studied thoroughly de visu. As before, only a small number of scientific research works published by Tartu University faculty in abroad reached the library. Information about such publications can be found from university reports and published annual reports of different university offices, and from lists of reference presented in master’s and doctoral theses. The bibliographing of Estonian periodicals has become much more complicated, as the number of different publications has considerably increased. The question, whether all items published in the press need to be bibliographed as thoroughly as it has been traditionally done, remained unanswered. 8203 titles were bibliographed, 3064 cards were duplicated, 10 604 cards were added to the file. Materials concerning the years of 1987, 1990 and 1992 have also been entered into a database. Ten different issues of bibliographic yearbooks of Tartu University were in different stages of completion, but none of them were published this year.

2) History of Sciences in Estonia (1956–1998?)

25 cards were added to the file.

3) Bibliography of Estonian History (1918–1944)

Estonian and foreign periodicals (“Muusikaleht”, “Kasvatus”, “Eesti Spordileht”, “Zeitschrift für Ethnologie”, “Zeitschrift für Geopolitik, “The Contemporary Review”, etc.) were continuously bibliographed, as well as materials concerning Estonian Liberation War. 1758 titles were bibliographed, 560 titles were systematised, 1397 cards were added to the file.

4) URBIS, International databases, Finno-Ugric linguistics 1988–1998 ? (published in the Russian areas). ARTAL. School textbooks and newspaper articles of Finno-Ugric peoples 1996–1998?

URBIS and URBED, which had previously been two separate databases, were merged into one by the end of 1998. 957 new titles were found for the database, 1050 records were entered into it and 897 titles were give subject headings. The English-Estonian and Estonian-English parts of the subject index of URBIS are almost completed, but the Russian-English part needs some additional work.

Contacts with Finno-Ugric centres in the area of the former Soviet Union were good.

Two international conferences were held on the subject of URBIS in Karelia and in the Crimea.

5) Recent Publications on Librarianship

263 titles, selected form the new library acquisitions, were added to a bibliographic Pro-Cite database . From this database materials are drawn for four different databases: 1) a union database of new literature on librarianship located in Estonian research libraries; 2) union lists published in the professional journal “Raamatukogu”; 3) a database located in the Research Department of the library; 4) monthly and yearly lists accessible via Tartu University Library homepage.

Reorganisation of the reference archive of the library was begun in 1998, the number of bibliographed subjects was diminished, and materials concerning three most heavily used subjects were entered into Pro-Cite databases. The subject areas “Countries of the World” (666 entries) and “Folk Medicine” (417 entries) were fully converted into the database, and the subject area “National Geographic” (574 entries) was partly converted into an electronic database.

2674 cards (including 2389 annotated cards) were added into the file of the reference archive. Reference archive offered materials on 322 subjects and on 106 persons.

Following both written and oral inquiries, 5 subject lists were compiled (241 titles): “Books by Gore Vidal in Tartu University Library”, “Estonia and the Knights of the Cross”, “Publications about the history of Estonian telecommunications in Tartu University Library”, “Recent Russian publications about N. Vavilov in Tartu University Library”, “Johan Laidoner”.
 
 
 

VI. Collections management

In 1998, Estonian Science Foundation continued to support two projects, which enabled to more thoroughly carry on the work of organising collections and creating appropriate databases.

1. Database “Baltic-German art in Tartu” includes the works of art from the collections of Tartu University Library, Tartu Art Museum, Estonian National Museum and some minor collections in Tartu. 850 records, mainly describing the properties from other art collections, were entered into the database in 1998. The database contains 1450 records.
2. “Scientific and technical revision of the personal archive of Prof. Juri Lotman and the creating of an appropriate database in Tartu University Library”. The archival materials were cleaned, sorted and systematised into main categories. Documents of J. Lotman’s wife, Z. Mints were separated from those of J. Lotman to create a separate collection. The materials of four monographs by J. Lotman were systematised. The texts that J. Lotman had dictated during his last years of life were entered into computer. 6000 letters sent to J. Lotman from 824 persons were catalogued into a card catalogue.

A joint interlibrary project that had been started in 1992 to microfilm Estonian newspapers published in 1919–1940 was carried to completion in June 1998. As a result, the library now has a backup collection — 111 titles of newspapers on 1094 rolls of microfilm.

Materials of four personal archives were put into order; the revision of F. L. Schardius’s collection of autographs was completed.

Routine work was carried on in the stacks — the collections were relocated according to the need, the order of the publications on shelves was checked, damaged books were sent to the bindery and to be restored or conserved. The duplicity of publications sent back to the library from the chairs and laboratories of the university was checked against the catalogues. New archival copies of Estonian publications were labelled; the same was done with older materials.

63 860 items of unnecessary and out-of-date publications were discarded, the work was more intense than in several recent years (1997 — 35 515 items).

The council of methodology decided in October that the first copies of Estonian legal deposits (ARH, published since 1997) will be held as a separate collection in the stack C5, folders or boxes of small prints on selected subjects will also be held in the same location. In October the collection contained 7223 copies of books and serials, 176 maps, and 410 titles of newspapers from 1997 and 416 titles of newspapers from 1998.

The revision of the linguistics seminar was completed in the Library of Humanities.

Temperature and air humidity were measured in 26 locations in the library once or twice a week. An extremely rainy summer strongly influenced the microclimate in the stacks.
 
 
 

VII. Public services

By Dec. 31, 1998, the library had 23 162 registered patrons, 41,2% of whom were not connected with the university. 801 200 visits and 740 143 loans were registered during the year, 262 775 of them were home loans, 477 368 items were brought out from the stacks for in-house use.

The database of patrons was revised throughout the year, instructions for patron registration and circulation rules for INNOPAC were worked out. The design of a new library card was worked out.

The staff of public services was engaged in preparations for the implementation of INNOPAC. The open collection in the monograph reading-room was enlarged by about 8000 volumes, arranging almost all new monographs on open shelves. By the end of the year the volume of the open collection reached about 27 000 volumes plus journals of the current and previous year. Circulation rules for the open collection remained the same as before — as a rule, books can be borrowed for 24 hours, and, as an exception, for 5 days. (A general loan period by INNOPAC is one week, and a 24-hour loan is treated as an exception.) During the summer, all books of the open collection were marked to make it clear for the users, which circulation rules apply for which books.

Multimedia classroom and Eurodocumentation Centre, which has been operating for two years, was as heavily used as last year, gathering 26 352 visits (21 000 visits in 1997).

ILL started charging unified fees — 30.- and 60.- EEK — for the copies it orders, depending on the number of pages. At the beginning this change resulted in the diminishing number of orders (3345 orders in 1998, 5656 orders in 1997). The proportion between copies and books ordered by patrons also changed. In 1997 books accounted for 15% of all literature ILL ordered, reaching to 32% in 1998. Students and graduate students added to the number of ILL patrons (367 patrons in 1997, 468 patrons in 1998). 90% of the orders are fulfilled, 80% of the orders are sent electronically.

565 patrons used the materials of Manuscript and Rare Book Department (6000 loans, 2300 visits). About 62% of the patrons are Tartu University faculty, students, researchers and staff, the remaining 38% is made up of teachers, staff of museums and archives, researchers of popular heritage, etc. Foreign researchers mostly came from Germany and Finland, but also from Russia, Hungary, and Lithuania, and they used materials related with the history of science and culture, history, personal histories and literary history. 748 stills of microfilm and negative film, 290 photocopies and 70 Xerox copies were made for the patrons.

The largest number of written queries — 28 — arrived from Estonia, and from Germany — 19, but they were also sent from Italy, Latvia, Finland, Japan and other countries. 900 answers to queries were sent by mail, mostly about different persons (L. Strümpell, G. Kolosov, H. A. Rothermel, who studied pharmacy at Tartu University, F. M. Klinger, H. v. Keyserling, A. v. Krusernstern’s fellow traveller around the world H. v. Löwenstern), but also concerning manuscripts, early prints and works of art from the library collections (French periodicals from the 17th–18th centuries, S. Münster’s publications of “Cosmographia universalis”, correspondences of Telemann, Leibnitz, Hübart and others, etc.). 1343 Xerox copies were made to answer written queries.

Electronic reference services of the library, opened on Dec. 19, 1997, received 252 queries from 20 countries.

Young people applying to the university were directed to use the Library of Humanities, materials they needed were deposited from the main collection and from Tartu Art Gymnasium.
 
 
 

VIII. Library and Bibliographic Instruction

Freshmen of the university were offered 58 training classes, with the duration of one to one and a half hours, where they were explained the history of the library, branch libraries, library rules, circulation rules, and catalogues. 430 students, including 55 foreign students, participated in these activities. Staff of Cataloguing Department instructed new patrons in the use of electronic catalogue. Staff of Information Department taught the patrons to use scientific databases each Wednesday for two months in the autumn semester.
 
 

IX. Research

Two members of library staff with the degree of Candidate in History, A. Tering and H. Tankler, filled the positions of researchers; other staff members conducted research in addition to their everyday tasks. In 1999, seven subject areas were under research.
 
 

1. Library performance measurement.

2) The History of Tartu University Library and Its Collections in the 19th and 20th Centuries.

Materials were gathered for the monograph on the history of the library.

The eleventh volume of “Publications of Tartu University Library”, discussing acquisition problems and the development of catalogue system in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and historical collections in Tartu University Library was prepared for publishing. Nine presentations were given at a seminar “Epistolae autographae. Kirjavahetused ja kollektsioonid” dedicated to the autograph collection of the library. Enlarged versions of the presentations will be published in the 12th collection of library publications.
 

3) The History of Tartu University in the 19th and Early 20th Centuries. (Fulfilled by H. Tankler).

During prolonged research periods in Germany and other countries H. Tankler has studied the connections and co-operation of the scholars of Tartu University with universities of other countries. H. Tankler supervises the compilation of a bibliographic database containing the works of the professors of sciences at Tartu University in 1802–1918 (financed by an Estonian Science Foundation grant).
 

4) The Development of Intelligentsia in Estonia, Livonia and Curonia and Their Academic Relations in the 17th–18th Centuries. (Fulfilled by A. Tering).

Materials have been gathered for publishing a reference work “The Immatriculation Book of Baltic Students in 1561–1800”. Data has been found about 6000 students, a short article has been entered into the database about 3112 students. A. Tering has published 6 articles (140 pp) on the subject in Estonian and foreign journals and collections of articles.
 

5) The Production of Tartu University Printing Shop in 1632–1710. (Fulfilled by E. Jaanson, M. Rand).

E. Jaanson has completed the manuscript of a bibliography which contains 1386 entries. Introduction and foreword have still to be written and illustrative materials have not been selected as yet.
 

6) The Condition of Cultural Treasures in Major Estonian Libraries. The Preservation of Estonian Book Treasures. (UNESCO project no 98, ENA 301; Project director M. Siiner (ENL), consultants J. Palm (Copenhagen Royal Library) and K. Konsa (Estonian Post Museum); fulfillers from Tartu University Library: J. Lehtaru and M. Ilus; a joint project together with Estonian Literary Museum, Estonian Academic Library and the National Library of Estonia).

Research on the subject is the precondition according to which the UNESCO will make a decision, whether and with how large a sum to support the restoration and preservation of Estonian publications. The workgroup of the project assigned tasks to its members. The principles of selecting a representative group of materials were worked out (M. Ilus) and a methodology was chosen to analyse the stage of ageing of paper using physical and chemical methods (J. Lehtaru).
 

7) Estonian Riddles. (The compilation of Monumenta Estoniae antiquae, Ser IV, a scientific publication of Estonian folklore) (a joint project together with the Estonian Language Institute, director of the project — Prof. A. Krikmann).

R. Saukas represents Tartu University Library in the preparation of this publication. He marked file cards with redaction inscriptions and marked the texts that will be cited in the paper editions (20 boxes of cards, subject headings ‘raamat’ to ‘suhkur’).
 
 

Two meetings and the VIIth Congress of Estonian Librarians “Libraries in the Open Society” were held at the library (the total of 50 presentations was given). The Congress was organised jointly together with the Estonian Librarians’ Association. The summaries of almost all presentations were photocopied and distributed among the participants, the summaries were accessible via library homepage http://www.utlib.ee as well.
 
 

X. Publishing

Five publications (including two quasi-publications), all in all 31 printed sheets appeared during 1998. 35 titles of different leaflets and advertising publications, mostly photocopied in the library, were published as well.

Publications that appeared in 1998 are accessible in electronic form via library homepage http://www.utlib.ee. The library publications of the recent years were exhibited at Frankfurt Bookfair.
 
 
 

XI. Co-operation with other Estonian libraries

The Acquisition Department of the library holds regular publications exchange agreements with all major Estonian libraries. Co-ordination and co-operation became especially actual in purchasing foreign publications. The subscriptions of foreign periodicals were co-ordinated with Estonian Academic Library, and the libraries of the Institute of Physics, the State Court, Estonian Legislative Centre, the Institute of Zoology and Botany, Eurofaculty, and Biocentre. The co-ordination of purchasing electronic databases and electronic journals was begun as well. The co-operation with the National Library of Estonia improved considerably in 1998.

Materials are regularly sent to union catalogues of Estonian libraries, which are mainly compiled at the National Library of Estonia. Nine new entries were sent there about Estonica documents, 187 new entries for “Union Catalogue of Foreign Periodicals”, 1670 file cards about earlier foreign publications for the union catalogue of foreign books, and 263 entries were sent to the database of new publications on librarianship.

Contributive materials were sent to the retrospective national bibliography. Library catalogues were checked against the lists “Estonian-language periodicals 1766–1940” and “Estonian periodicals 1941–1944”, 84 new titles were added. Representatives of the library participated in the discussions concerning the compilation of the retrospective national bibliography “Estonian book 1918–1940” and the current national bibliography.

Last year, Open Estonia Foundation made the decision to support a new joint project of microfilming older Estonian newspapers. The project will create a backup collection of materials of national cultural heritage. Seven institutions participate in the project: the National Library of Estonia, Estonian Academic Library, Tartu University Library, Estonian Literary Museum, Tallinn City Archives, Estonian Historical Archives, and Estonian State Archives. Tartu University compiled the list of newspapers that will be microfilmed during the third stage of the project.

ILL of the library has received publications from the National Library of Estonia, Estonian Academic Library, and Estonian Medical Library.

The staff of Restoration Department of the library counselled and gave practical help to several Estonian museums and libraries.

A travelling exhibition “Dürer and German Renaissance” was on display in Jõgeva, Narva and Siimusti.

Scientific co-operation — see IX, 1, 6–7.

Inter-institutional committees have been set up with the Estonian Librarians’ Association and the Ministry of Culture and others to solve problems common to many libraries, representatives of Tartu University Library participate in the work of these committees.
 
 

XII. International Co-operation

The number of foreign exchange partners of the library remained almost the same (about 560 partners). Exchange agreements with Stockholm Royal Library and Stockholm University Library were cancelled. New agreement was established with Fozzer Library of Harvard University. A co-operation project covering collection management is being worked out with Göttingen and Greifswald University Libraries. Co-operation with the library of the Russian Academy of Sciences improved during 1998. Tartu University Library has good co-operation in the field of collection management also with the libraries of Moscow, Voronezh, Tomsk and Belorussian Universities, and with the libraries of the Academies of Sciences of Latvia, Lithuania, and Belorussia.

More prominent partners of ILL are university libraries in Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Germany and Norway. The volume of materials lent by our library has much increased during 1998, and Latvian and Lithuanian libraries have started more actively to order copies of medical journals.

The library has good contacts regarding the organisation of guest exhibitions with the Embassies of Germany and Poland in Estonia; new relations were developed with the Embassies of France and Czech Republic.

The staff of Manuscripts and Rare Books Department has relations with libraries in Latvia, Sweden and Germany to help them to acquire copies of old publications the library is missing and other necessary publications. Co-operation with Hamburg University Library extends to consultations about computer programs to process manuscripts and relevant databases.

The staff of Restoration Department has contacts with European Commission on Preservation and Access and receive information materials; they give advice and do practical conservation work for Finnish Literature Society and Jyväskylä University Library.
 
 

The library is participating in two international co-operation projects:

1) ”Handbuch des personalen Gelegenheitsschrifttums in europäischen Bibliotheken und Archiven”.

An agreement of international co-operation for registering, describing and microfilming the 16th–18th century German language occasional prints was signed with Osnabrück University and Olms Publishers in 1996. Two databases with temporary names of “Tartu” and “Dorpat” have been completed, which contain all in all 5277 entries. Based on these databases the German partners from Osnabrück University, M. Klöker and K. Hagena made a list of publications they are interested in, which will be either copied or microfilmed. The first shipment of copied materials has been sent to Osnabrück.
 
 

2) URBIS, URBED. International databases, Finno-Ugric linguistics 1988–1992, 1993–1997? (Published in the Russian areas). ARTAL. School textbooks and newspaper articles of Finno-Ugric peoples 1996–1997?.

A co-operation project with the Finnish Research Centre for Native Languages, the Institute of Linguistics at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Hamburg University, Germany (See V, 4).
 

Library staff members have given presentations at conferences and meetings in abroad and published research work and articles in foreign publications. Researcher H. Tankler has spent considerable time in Germany and Switzerland, gathering material relevant in his research area. T. Liivamägi participated in the IFLA Congress in Amsterdam, Holland; P. Olesk, T. Liivamägi, M. Ermel and Ü. Must attended the conference of Bibliotheca Baltica, the Association of Libraries of the Baltic Region.
 
 

Tartu University Library belongs to the following international organisations:

• Association of European Research Libraries (LIBER),
• Association of Libraries of the Baltic Area Bibliotheca Baltica,
• European Association of Health Information Libraries (EAHIL),
• International Association of Music Libraries (IAML),
• European Information Association (EIA) and its branch for Baltic and Nordic Countries.

XIII. Continuous learning of staff members

Olev Teder from Restoration Department got his MA in history for his thesis “Main Features of Russian Byzantinistics and the Role of Tartu University in This Field in the 19th and Early 20th (up to 1918) Centuries”.

O. Teder entered the Doctoral program at the Department of Information Sciences at Tallinn University of Educational Sciences. Ü. Must has reached the second year of her Doctoral Program. Five staff members participate in the Master’s programs, seven staff members study at different universities.

Most of the professional continuous education of library staff was devoted to the preparations for implementing INNOPAC. Two seminars: “INNOPAC and co-operation between libraries”, “Application of the public services module” and an awareness raising day “INNOPAC — its current state, problems and perspectives” were organised at the library. The staff of Public Services was instructed in creating short catalogue entries and databases, etc.

Two longer training courses were organised about historical bookbindings: “Gothic style in the art of bookbinding” and “Renaissance and Baroque styles in the art of bookbinding”.

Eight staff members participated in study trips and professional training courses in abroad: a study trip to museums in Stockholm, a fair of restoration materials in Amsterdam, training courses for restorers in Andover (USA) and Rome, study programs “Team Europe Estonia” in Copenhagen and “Urban History. Baltic Region” at Turku University.

A program for continuous training “The Basics of Librarianship and Information” and an program for teaching librarianship and information science and book science at Tartu University was developed.