Estonian schools do also cooperate with public libraries in resolving book shortages, but this still runs into problems if, for instance, several schools in a district are studying the same work of literature simultaneously.

The  "Kingi koolile raamat" drive, part of the Year of Libraries initiative, attempted to address this further and has just ended, AK reported.

Offerings came from authors as diverse as Sofi Oksanen and Andrus Kivirähk, as well as famous Estonian poet Marie Under

Anneli Ilves, school librarian at the Läänemaa High School in Haapsalu, said: "Collections of poems are always extremely welcome, because those that are old can no longer be found anywhere, they are no longer issued, they are completely rarities."

Stiina Koit of the Estonian Librarians Association (Eesti Raamatukoguhoidjate Ühing) said that since school book depositories are financed from the school budget, the choice of fiction depends on how much money the school finds for this.

"We have very specific lists, and each school has its own, while for those who don't, the children's literature center and savings library have also put together some of the more popular works," she went on, adding that the drive had proven encouraging in terms of quality of donations and had not just yielded pulp fiction and similar.

Since the campaign has just ended, there are no figures available yet on how many books have been donated, though all gifts were welcome.

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