Tallinna Keskraamatukogu | Page 283

‹ 283 › 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