The present National Library of Estonia (NLE) was established in 1918 as a State Library, providing information services to the Riigikogu (Estonian Parliament). In the time of the independent Republic of Estonia (1918-1940) the Library developed and grew quickly, in 1919 it began to receive a legal deposit copy of all printed matter published in Estonia. During the Soviet occupation the Library acted as a regular public library. The liberation movement that began in the Baltic countries in the second half of the 1980's as well as the restoration of the independent Republic of Estonia in 1991 considerably changed the role of the Library - in 1988 it was renamed the National Library of Estonia. In 1989, the National Library of Estonia regained its status as a parliamentary library.

The National Library of Estonia is assigned to be:

* a national library, collecting, storing and making publicly accessible documents published in Estonia or about Estonia, registering Estonian national bibliography and print output statistics and assigning international standard numbers;

* a parliamentary library, providing information services for the Riigikogu (Estonian Parliament), Government and other constitutional institutions;

* a research library, providing information and various services for research activities in the humanities and social sciences;

* a library research and development centre, coordinating standardisation, organising professional training, contributing to terminology issues;

* a cultural centre where various exhibitions, performances and other activities are held.

The Library’s legal status, purpose and functions are specified in the National Library of Estonia Act. The NLE is a legal person in public law operating on the basis of this Act, other legislation and its articles of association. The Library’s highest decision-making body is the Board of the National Library and the Director General is Ms Janne Andresoo who started her 3rd term of Office on 15 September 2018.

Collection development prioritises electronic collections. Estonian publications are to form the core of the digital library. The NLE favours the acquisition of digital editions of Estonian publications. In accordance with the Legal Deposit Copy Act, enacted on 1 January 2017, the NLE also collects audiovisual documents and maintains its web archive, which was launched in 2016. Electronic publications and databases are also preferred in foreign literature acquisition, the main emphasis is on acquiring legal and humanities literature. The National Library’s entire collection is displayed in the shared online catalogue of the Estonian Libraries Network Consortium.

Based on the Legal Deposit Copy Act, the NLE is responsible for communicating with printers and publishing houses, as well as the distribution of legal deposit copies to other research libraries. A publisher portal has been developed to facilitate communications with publishers and transfer print files.

In addition to traditional library functions, the NLE coordinates the compilation of national retrospective bibliographies and compiles Estonian legal bibliographies. TheLibrary is developing a competence centre for the preservation and digital archiving of foreign and Estonian publications by contributing to the preparation of strategic documents and by composing a uniform digitisation plan for memory institutions. The NLE also develops research in librarianship, advises Estonian public libraries, and participates in international and local research and development projects.