The Art Museum of Estonia Library is a specialised library which has dealt with the collection of literature related to art and culture generally since its founding.
The library was founded in 1924. It has been in its present location since 2006.
The overall area of the library is 280 m². Visitors have the use of eight reading places and an open-shelved reading room. One computer terminal, a scanner and a copy machine are also available.
In 2007, the library joined the ELNET Consortium, which made the resources in the Art Museum of Estonia Library accessible through the online catalogue ESTER.
The AME Library participates in the work of the following organisations
ELNET Consortium – Estonian Libraries Network Consortium
AEAL – Alliance of Estonian Art Libraries
ELA– Estonian Librarians Association (the unit of special libraries)
The core of our readership is comprised of AME employees; other readers include Estonian Academy of Arts and Tallinn University students and faculty members.
Publications in the library as of 1 January 2023: 47 390
Acquisition principles
The primary mission of the AME Library is to collect, preserve and make accessible various materials on Estonian art; therefore, monographs of Estonian artists and art catalogues are available in several copies. Another important acquisition principle involves the collection of foreign art of the Art Museum of Estonia, meaning that we focus on books about Netherlandish and Flemish art.
Other significant areas of acquisition:
- the world history of art by styles and movements
- recent art theory
- history of photography, contemporary art photography and printmaking generally (history, techniques and contemporary graphic art)
- painting
- sculpture
- intermedia
- fashion design