About Tallinn University of Technology Library

Short Overview

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The mission of Tallinn University of Technology Library (TUTL) is to provide library and information services in the fields of engineering and entrepreneurship, which are internationally competitive and significant for Estonia’s sustainable development. The primary goal of TUTL (founded in 1919) is to support academic, research and development activities of the Tallinn University of Technology and to provide Estonian industry and business with necessary and updated knowledge and information. TUTL serves as:

• the university centre of library services and electronic information
• the national resource library that is open for public use

TUTL collections include the following specialities: natural and exact sciences, mechanical engineering, machinery and instrument engineering, materials science, transport engineering, logistics, geotechnology, mining engineering, power engineering, electrical engineering, chemical engineering, biotechnology and biomedicine, medical technology, food processing, environmental engineering, civil engineering, systems engineering and information technology, different branches of industry (wood, textiles etc), public administration, economics and business administration.

The total size of printed collections is about 733,000 volumes (including 535,000 books, 65,000 technical documents, 25,000 manuscripts etc). In 2007 – about 560 printed journal titles were subscribed for, and the full-texts of about 27,000 e-journals and over 20,000 e-books were accessible through campus-wide network. TUTL is provided with a copy of legal deposit of Estonian publications. TUTL has international book exchange with more than 100 partners from 20 countries. The population served is more than 19,000. Annually there is  about 247,000 visits and 140,000 home loans. The library staff is 74.

TUTL has a special collection of learning materials, which consists of about 150,000 volumes and is formed according to the needs of academic curricula. In addition, the figure of electronic learning materials accessible through campus-wide network is growing from year to year. At present the quantitative growth of collections has been stopped and much attention has been given to collections development and the supply of e-resources. The detailed acquisition matrix on three levels has been compiled using UDC divisions and collection depth indicators based on ARL Conspectus methodology.

Many activities of TUTL are dedicated to user training, which has been delivered since the academic year 1961/1962. At present it is carried out by subject librarians on three levels:

• diploma and bachelor students – part of the course is carried out in the format of distance education (web-based course)
• focused search for master students - searching special information, including electronic information – web-based course
• general introduction to the library and electronic information for lecturers, masters and other interested persons

As a result of the cooperative IT-project of the Consortium of ELNET (Estonian Libraries NETwork), the integrated library system INNOPAC (Innovative Interfaces Inc.) was implemented and data entry was started at the beginning of 1999. ELNET Consortium is a non-profit legal body which was formed in 1996 by academic and research libraries for the cooperative creation of integrated information system. Today the goals of the Consortium have been broadened, including joint projects in the fields of retrospective conversion, microfilming, digitizing and joint electronic resources supply.

The information system of ELNET Consortium member libraries is based on two databases located in Tallinn (http://ester.nlib.ee/) and in Tartu (http://ester.utlib.ee/) and will serve simultaneously as:

• Estonian national bibliography (including books, periodicals, articles and links to the electronic documents)
• union catalogue of participating libraries (ESTER), including TUTL
• tool for storing and managing the local data (acquisitions, patrons, circulations etc) of each member library
• centre for distributing (downloading) bibliographic records
• database for coordinated collections development

Since 2004 TUTL has the status of the research and development institution of the University.
The major fields of TUTL in research and development activities are as follows:

• development of web-based solutions for end-user, including:
• integrated web portal that allows metasearching and dynamic linking of full-texts
• digital library, that means digitizing and making available the doctoral theses and other publications of  TUT
• web-based distance education courses in the field of information retrieval
• development of the system of electronic tools to support acquisition, collections assessment and development, and allowing comparisons related to user needs and information seeking behaviour with library activities
• creating the fexible electronic learning environment for students, which is friendly for both sides
• studying the history of Estonian engineering and generating necessary databases

The concept of new library building has been worked out and the calculations of the area required for open stacks, closed stacks, reading rooms, staff etc were made during 2000-2007. The construction of the new building was started in February 2008. The goal is to create innovative user-friendly environment for studies, research, communication and relaxation, which by its functional and architectural design could be comparable with best libraries of the world.

 

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