The Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre library was founded in 1935. It is the largest research library for classical music in Estonia, and a major part of the collections are unique in Estonia.
Library acquisitions include music and theatre books, materials on educational sciences (especially music education) and cultural management specialties, scores, sound and video recordings and electronic databases. The library archive contains manuscripts of works and treatises by outstanding Estonian composers, unique audio recordings and printed editions (e.g. editions by Peeter Jürgenson, an Estonian origin music publisher), rare scores and books. The main share of the theatre literature, feature films and video recordings of stage performances are located at the library branch located at the EAMT Theatre Department. Almost the entire library collection is housed on open shelves, and the audiovisual equipment is accessible to all.
The library is open to its approximately 3,000 users six days a week – a total of 54 hours a week. EAMT library collection has been entered into e-catalogue ESTER.
During the years the library collection is complemented by many donors: Naan Põld, Hugo Lepnurm, Leo Normet, Lilian Semper, Toomas Paul, Anna Klas, Bruno Lukk, Eri Klas, Andrei Volkonski, Veljo Tormis, Arne Mikk, Anti Marguste, Heljo Sepp, Wolfgang Wagner, Joachim Herz, Tõnis Rüütel, etc.
As of 1st January 2025, the EAMT library has 198 862 items:
46 295 books
115 878 scores
3255 theses and researches
28 241 audio recordings (including 17 756 CDs)
3558 video recordings (including 2850 DVDs)
118 periodical titles
List of subscribed periodicals
Selection of full-text music periodicals