Estonia cuts library materials funding but keeps allocation formula

State support for public libraries to buy materials will fall from 1.87 million euros to 1.77 million euros in 2027, while the allocation formula will remain unchanged, the Ministry of Culture’s library adviser Ülle Talihärm told ERR.

Talihärm said increasing the grant was one of the ministry’s priorities during talks on the 2027 state budget, but the funding will not rise. The reduction is linked to a 10% cut distributed across the state budget years, she said.

In July, ERR reported that deputy mayors Ulla Preeden of Tartu and Monika Haukanõmm of Tallinn had asked the ministry to fund public libraries equally. They said the grant is calculated according to population, but Tallinn and Tartu also face an additional coefficient, leaving their per-resident state support lower than in nearby municipalities such as Viimsi, Saue and Saku.

The ministry said it had made no additional cuts to Tallinn or Tartu in the 2027 allocation. The distribution will continue to use coefficients established in 2015, which maintain municipalities’ shares at the same proportions as before.

The ministry may revise the formula if the overall grant increases, Talihärm said. A future update could take into account more current measures of municipalities’ revenue base and revenue capacity, as well as population.

Preeden and Haukanõmm also noted that libraries in Tallinn and Tartu serve linguistically diverse populations and people from surrounding counties. Talihärm said municipalities are primarily responsible for regularly supplying public library collections, and that purchases should reflect readers’ needs and demand.

On school libraries, Talihärm said schools must provide funding for their core collections and curriculum materials. Public libraries may support schools’ teaching, but that responsibility should not be covered by public libraries’ collection budgets, she said.