UT Library Will Open Its Doors on 25 April

The first stage of the UT Library renovation has been completed and parts of the building will be opened for readers on 25 April at 12.00. Although the renovation of the library will continue, students will soon be able to prepare for their spring exams in the new environment.

“We set the goal that by the end of the semester, the students should be able to study at the library,” said Martin Hallik, the UT Library director. “Although the third floor reading rooms will be opened only in autumn, we can already offer the students a new learning environment: there are a number of group work rooms of different size, and we have also furnished some rooms on the second floor where students can write their final theses and prepare for the exams.”

The lobby and the open stacks on the first floor and rooms on the second floor, as well as the staircases have already been renovated and new lifts have been installed. The conference centre has also undergone a thorough renovation.

On 25 April the library will be partially opened. It will take some more months until all book collections will be available for the readers. “Our staff members are every day cleaning and shelving the books, but as there are millions of them, it will take a lot of time. Volunteers are of great help in this work,” admitted Hallik. “We all try to give our best in opening our collections as soon as possible.”

Renovation of the third floor reading rooms and the underground floors of stacks will continue. According to the renovation plan, the reconstruction of the reading rooms and the open stacks which replace the former closed stacks should be finished by AS Ehitustrust and OÜ Tallinna Ehitustrust in the autumn semester of 2018. The deadline given in the procurement contract by which all the underground floors of stacks must be ready is 9 January 2019.