The National Library of Estonia Act provides the legal status, purpose, functions, management, financing and administrative supervision over the activity of the National Library of Estonia (Eesti Rahvusraamatukogu). The National Library is a legal person in public law, operating on the basis of this Act. The purpose of the National Library is to increase the initiative, awareness and responsibility based on knowledge and information in the society, and promote the country, European common values, culture and democracy. According to the Act, upon implementation of its purpose, the National Library shall operate pursuant to UNESCO recommendations for national and parliamentary libraries.
The Public Libraries Act provides the bases for the organisation of the activities, collections, service, management and financing of public libraries. The Act defines the purpose of public libraries to ensure free and unrestricted access to information, knowledge, achievements of human thought and culture for inhabitants, to promote lifelong learning and individual development. For the purposes of this Act, a public library is a local government agency, it collects, stores and makes available for readers the publications, audiovisual items and other items and public databases they need. A public library shall operate pursuant to this Act, other legislation, the UNESCO Public Library Manifesto, and its statutes.
The Legal Deposit Copy Act establishes the procedure and conditions for submission to a legal deposit copy of a publication published, distributed or made accessible to the public in Estonia. It also applies to the digital dataset used for the production thereof and for preservation and making accessible of a legal deposit copy. The purpose of this Act is to ensure the creation, long-term preservation and consistent accessibility of the most comprehensive collection of publications essential to the Estonian culture and their output-ready files if other copies of the publications are not available. The Act applies to printed publications and other publications on physical media with at least fifty copies, and to web publications that are publicly accessible.
See also chapter 3.2.
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