Library
The library of the Institute of Philosophy and Semiotics consists of the libraries of the Department of Philosophy, Department of Semitotics and the Thomas A. Sebeok memorial library. The library holds total of more than 7000 books, journals and other items, which are organized in a thematic order. It is located on the third floor of the Jakobi 2 building.
Majority of the collection is taken up by following fields: moral philosophy and political philosophy, applied ethics (bioethics and medical ethics, environmental ethics, public ethics and others) philosophy of law and aesthetics. Represented are also the various disciplines within philosophy: history of philosophy, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, metaphysics, epistemology, philosophy of science. The majority of books are in English but there are also books in Estonian, German and other languages.
The books are listed in the ESTER electronic catalogue (common catalogue of the Estonian research libraries). Anyone with a Tartu University main library card can loan books.
See library opening times below.
Summer schedule 2022
During the summer (in between 27.06-21.08), the library of the philosophy department and the centre for ethics, and the library of the semiotics department will work on an on-demand basis. This means that there are no regular opening times but it is still possible to borrow books if you contact the librarian beforehand.
How can I borrow books?
Please send an email to the librarian stating which books you need. Please contact me (heidy.meriste@ut.ee) with regard to books from the philosophy and ethics library, and Eva Lepik (evalotta@ut.ee) with regard to books from the semiotics library. The details of handing the books over will be agreed on a case-to-case basis.
How can I return books?
1) Please take them to Jakobi 2 administrator, stating clearly that they are meant to be returned to the philosophy and semiotics library. Please be mindful that since our librarians are not in the house every day, it may sometimes take time until your books are officially registered as returned. But as long as you yourself returned them in time, there will be no fees.
2) Our books can also be returned to the main library (Struve 1). There is a special book return box for that in the lobby.
(Of course, if you've agreed with the librarian to come in for new books anyway, then you can return to old ones then as well.)
