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helped to sustain cultural memory and deepen belief in the
vitality of the language and culture. The 1960s were a time
of enthusiasm and new creation. One tried to live on despite
the circumstances.
After the events in Czechoslovakia in 1968 ideological
pressure began to increase with new force. In the press the
situation regarding propaganda and agitation in cultural
institutions was written about sharply. The Party line had
to reach every reader. Book fairs fundamentally echoed the
themes dealt with at Party congresses, events organized at
libraries bore ringing slogan-like titles ( a literary evening
“Friendship binds our hands into one”, a children’s morning
“Always prepared!”). The organization of various kinds of
events at factories continued.
The 1970s – a time of increasing ideological pressure
In the 1970s the publication of thematic lists of recommended reading began at the Central Library. Among them
were “Man and Cosmos” and “Manufacturing Economy”,
“Two World Systems”, and, in Russian, “Tallinn in Poetry
and Fiction”.
In 1971 the number of books at Tallinn Central Library reached 425,245. There were 56 employees. 60% had
higher education, of them only 7% in librarianship. Of those with a secondary school education 24% had trained in
librarianship.
In the 1970s workforce flux became a matter of course. In
1977 59 employees left the library. One reason was the low
salary, although there were probably other reasons as well.
Long workdays (the reading room was open till 10 p.m.),
work on holidays, etc. There were many problems with re-
pairs to the buildings as well.
Technology progressed and at the beginning of 1971 the
library got its first photocopier, in 1973 the library bus “Kuban” was bought. This served those areas where there was
no library. In 1974 the library acquired a teletype machine, and the change-over to a centralized system began.17
branch libraries which in substance had always been under
the Central Library were now formally so as well.
In connection with the transition to a general secondary
education, great attention began to be paid to guiding and
instructing young people with a secondary school education.
Readers were divided into groups according to education.
In national culture terms the 1970s’ most important
events were the 450th anniversary of the Estonian book and
the 100th anniversary of A. H. Tammsaare’s birth.
1980 – 1990s
1982 was the 75th anniversary of the establishment of Tallinn Central Library. A year before, in November 1981
Aleksander Sibul died. A monument to him was erected in
his birthplace near Tartu in 1984. Estonia’s leading literary figures, cultural organizations, the leadership of Tallinn
Central Library, former colleagues, relatives and friends gathered at the memorial ceremony. Honouring cultural figures from the time of Estonian independence and keeping
their memory alive was a mark of national cultural continuity as well as an expression of resistance to the ever harsher
Russification policy. In maintaining cultural memory and
stressing the importance of Estonian literature, The Central
Library had manifested great continuing care throughout
the decade – at the beginning of the 1980s the foundation
was laid at the library for the series of literary evenings en-
titled “Literary Tallinn”, the content of which was approved
by Oskar Kuningas. The local history research group that
met in the library in the 1960s dealt with the same topic.
At the beginnin