If you are at home and need information, then contact the library. Tallinn Central Library’s librarians answer questions regarding daily life, for example you can ask advice about the on-going quarantine, travelling, moving outside and other regulations of the national emergency. Information competence, the skill to find necessary information and assess it is one of the primary competences of a librarian. Owing to this librarians can help to discern information.

Librarians request that crisis hotlines be only used to ask critical and vital questions, if you have other questions please call the library.

Librarians answer questions in Estonian, Russian and English from Tues-Fri 10-18. Questions can be asked by telephone 683 0917 (in Estonian and English) and 632 7463 (in Russian) and in real-time chat and Skype, in addition to e-mail.

Chat can be found on Tallinn Central Library’s webpage www.keskraamatukogu.ee right hand bottom corner. Click „Küsi meilt”, fill in the fields and send the question. We will answer right away or as soon as possible.

E-mails can be sent to ls@nulltln.lib.ee

In Estonian, Skype username: Tallinna Keskraamatukogu infoteenindus

In English, Skype username: Tallinn Central Library

In Russian, Skype username: Tallinskaja Tsentralnaja Biblioteka

For gardening enthusiasts, the Toolbox selection includes the most commonly used garden tools, such as a shovel, hoe, rake, various shears and a lawn trimmer, but you can also borrow, for example, twig and hedge trimmers and a branch shredder. Hammers, screwdrivers, pliers, etc. can be borrowed for home repairs and smaller construction projects, as well as, for example, cordless drill, disc cutter, multi-tool and soldering iron, laser plummet and laser distance meter, multi-detector, etc. Borrowing tools is free of charge, but you will still have to pay for consumables.

“When borrowing a tool from the library, you can immediately borrow more necessary literature on the topic. By not buying a tool that you only need for a few hours you save the environment,“ says Ebe Otto, the Head of Pelguranna Library. “In Estonia, such a library service is still unique, but a similar service works very successfully, for example, in Finnish libraries,” says Ebe Otto.

List of tools and borrowing conditions can be found on Tallinn Central Library web page. You can check the availability of tools in the e-catalogue ESTER. It is possible to borrow up to three tools for seven days. In order to use the service, you must be a library patron and at least 18 years old. However, there are special sets of rakes and shovels for children that can only be borrowed with a parent.

With the Toolbox, Tallinn Central Library continues to create different additional opportunities that support city inhabitants’ interests, lifelong learning, and green and sustainable worldview. For example, Laagna library has a Seedbox, where gardening enthusiasts can borrow seeds for free to enjoy growing plants at home or at a community garden and afterwards bring joy to others by collecting seeds from these plants and donating them to the library. If addition, different musical instruments can be borrowed from the Department of Literature in Estonian, several Branch Libraries offer sporting equipment and outdoor games. Sõle Library has a sewing room equipped with sewing machines. Kännukuke Library, on the other hand, has an Innovation Lab, where you can use a 3D-printer, laser cutting machine, vinyl cutting machine and other modern technological equipment. There is also a Creative room with photo studio equipment at Kännukuke Library.

The construction of the Toolbox was financed by the Tallinn Urban Environment and Public Works Department from the application round for the allocation of funds for study gardens in Tallinn institutions.