Catalogues and Card Indices
Slip and card catalogues and thematic card indices are located on the second floor in the Catalogue Room. These catalogues have not been updated or corrected since 1999.
The catalogues, inventories of archives and thematic card indices of rare books, manuscripts and photograph and art collections are located in the Rariora Reading Room. The updating of these catalogues ended in 2008.
Books and Dissertations
The slip catalogue mostly lists foreign-language books (including those in Greek and oriental languages), as well as some periodicals, dissertations and offprints, which were published before 1945.
The catalogue is also available in digitised form.
The card catalogue lists Latin-script foreign-language books, dissertations, maps, offprints, preprints published in Estonia and microfilms that were published between 1945 and 1998.
The slip catalogue lists Russian-language books acquired between 1909 and 1916. The catalogue is organised following the Prussian instructions.
The catalogue is also available in digitised form. For older Russian-language publications, see also the book catalogue published in 1910: Каталог русских книг Библиотеки Императорского Юрьевского унивеситета (Юрьев, 1910).
The card catalogue lists books, dissertations, autoabstracts, offprints, diploma and award theses, research manuscripts of the University of Tartu in Russian and other Slavonic languages from the period 1917–1998.
The card catalogue lists foreign-language books as well as some dissertations published until 1915. The catalogue is organised on the basis of a specially designed classification system that has 15 main classes.
The catalogue is made easier to use by the accompanying “keys” in German and Russian, which explain the classification system: Schlüssel zum Systematischen Katalog der Dorpater Universitäts-Bibliothek (Dorpat, 1873) and Ключ к систематическому каталогу Библиотеки Имп. Юрьевского университета (Юрьев, 1900).
The catalogue allows searching for older Estonian-language publications by subject terms. The catalogue lists the books, offprints, journals and serials, newspapers, dissertations, award theses, and diploma theses published in Estonian between 1632 and 1944. Belletristic literature is only partly described in the catalogue. There is a subject term list to facilitate the use of the catalogue Eestikeelse kirjanduse (ilm. 1632–1944) märksõnakataloogi süstemaatiline märksõnaloend.
The card catalogue lists books and periodicals in foreign languages published before 1945. To facilitate the use of the catalogue, alphabetical and systematic subject term lists have been created: Võõrkeelse kirjanduse (ilm. kuni 1944. a) märksõnakataloogi alfabeetiline märksõnaloend and Võõrkeelse kirjanduse (ilm. kuni 1944. a) märksõnakataloogi süstemaatiline märksõnaloend.
It is possible to use subject terms to search the catalogue for publications, which were acquired for the University of Tartu Meteorological Observatory’s library between 1877 and 1948. The catalogue lists the meteorological yearbooks of different countries, major geophysical journals and books, weather observation maps, etc. of the period.
The card catalogue lists the foreign-language publications in the Estica Collection published in Estonia (books, serials, journals, newspapers, offprints). It also lists foreign-language literature on Estonia and the former Baltic Governorates, i.e., Estonia, Livonia and Courland, published outside Estonia. The catalogue covers publications up to 1944. The use of the catalogue is facilitated by the Estica Collection subject term list developed in the library, which is available on site as a hard copy as well.
The slip catalogue lists Estonian and Latin-script foreign-language dissertations, autoabstracts and offprints published until 1988. The catalogue is organised following the Prussian instructions.
The catalogue is also available in digitised form.
The slip catalogue lists Russian-language dissertations, autoabstracts and offprints published until 1988. The catalogue is organised following the Prussian instructions.
The catalogue is also available in digitised form.
The thematic card catalogue lists the Russian-language autoabstracts of dissertations (candidate and doctoral theses) defended in the USSR, which were published between 1969 and 1987. The catalogue is organised by subjects.
The catalogue is also available in digitised form.
The slip catalogue lists departmental publications (lecture catalogues, reports, regulations, personnel) of higher education institutions and research institutions published before 1945 and collections of professors’ speeches and biographies, which have been organised alphabetically by town names (location of the institutions).
The catalogue is also available in digitised form. You can check the place names in the Institute of the Estonian Language’s Place Names Database KNAB.
The slip catalogue lists departmental publications of educational institutions (schools) published before 1945, which have been organised alphabetically by town names (location of the institutions).
The catalogue is also available in digitised form. You can check the place names in the Institute of the Estonian Language’s Place Names Database KNAB.
Catalogues of Periodicals
The card catalogue lists Estonian-language newspapers, journals and other serials published until 1998. The catalogue includes foreign-language publications of Estonian collectives as well.
The card catalogue lists Latin-script foreign-language newspapers, journals and other serials published until 1998.
The card catalogue lists foreign-language newspapers, journals and other serials in Cyrillic script, mostly in Russian, published up to 1998.
Rare Books, Manuscripts, Photographs, Art
- Alphabetical catalogue
- Chronological catalogue (until 1860)
- Periodical publications (newspapers until 1944, journals until 1918)
- Printers and publishers
- Provenance
- Thematic card indices: children’s literature, schoolbooks (until 1920), scholarly publications (1806–1940), calendars (until 1920), Estonian bookbindings, Estonian book illustrations, etc.
- Alphabetical catalogue (until 1710; since 1711)
- Academia Gustaviana / Gustavo-Carolina publications (1632–1710)
- Older maps and plans of Estonia and Livonia
- Portraits found in Estica books
- Topographical views (Estonia, Latvia, miscellaneous) found in Estica books
- 16th century: alphabetical catalogue, printers and publishers
- 17th century: alphabetical catalogue, printers and publishers
- German 17th-century book: alphabetical catalogue, printers and publishers
- 16th–17th-century dissertations: alphabetical catalogue
- 18th-century dissertations: alphabetical catalogue
- Elzevirs: alphabetical, topographical and chronological catalogue, provenance
- 16th–18th century: alphabetical catalogue, printers
- 19th–20th century: alphabetical catalogue, printers and publishers
- Russian book in Estonia, 1919–1940
- Thematic card indices: Cyrillic publications, Old Believers’ publications, publications by scholarly classics published during their lifetimes, banned publications, Russian bookbindings, etc.
- Books from the library of M. A. von Lestocq
- Books from the library of J. G. von Herder
- Memorial Collection of P. Aleksandrov
- Memorial Collection of G. von Bergmann
- Inventory lists of personal archives, archival collections of institutions and organisations, and manuscript and photograph collections
- Alphabetical and subject catalogues of manuscripts
- Alphabetical and thematic catalogue of the Manuscript Collection
- Catalogue of correspondences in the collections of K. Morgenstern and of I. J. v. Essen, and in the Manuscript Collection
- Autograph collection of F. L. Schardius (authors, addressees)
- Catalogue of University of Tartu honorary addresses
- Epistolary personal archive of J. Lotman and Z. Mints
- Western European prints
- Western European drawings
- Baltic German prints and drawings
- Estonian prints and drawings
- Paintings
- Objects (seals and seal impressions, medallions, etc.)
- Estonian bookplates (artists, owners)
- Latvian, Lithuanian, Russian, etc. bookplates
- Ernst Jürgenson’s bookplate collection (artists, owners)
- Portraits
- Topographical views
- Portraits
- University of Tartu
- UT Library
- UT Library personnel
- Topographical views
- Views of Tartu
- Cemeteries (from H. Normann’s photograph collection)
- Miscellaneous
Card Indices
The card index contains information on books, dissertations, student works, articles, etc.
The names, life dates (if known), institution/subdivision, job title, academic degree and a note about belonging to the personnel.
Different subject card indices describe information about the history of the University of Tartu between 1632 and 2002.
The card index contains information about scholarly -literature, cultural-historical and memoiristic articles and books on Estonian history.
The card index is the substantial continuation of E. Winkelmann’s bibliography Bibliotheca Livoniae historica : systematisches Verzeichniss der Quellen und Hülfsmittel zur Geschichte Estlands, Livlands und Kurlands (Berlin, 1878) and the publication Eesti ajaloo bibliograafia 1877–1917 = Bibliotheca Estoniae historica 1877–1917 (Tartu, 1933–1939) compiled by E. Blumfeldt and N. Loone.
The card index compiled in the Russian State Library also contains information about Estonian societies in Russia.
The card index was compiled by Karl Weltmann, a former employee and director of the library, mainly on the basis of Russian-language periodicals. The card index contains a wide range of material on the Baltic states and other countries, including Finno-Ugric peoples, languages, etc. The section entitled Personalia contains information on individuals (scholars, politicians, religious figures, etc.) born and active in the Baltic states.