It is National Library Week in the United States with the theme of “Find Your Joy”!
Here are some open access articles that will spark joy: the story of LIS student Gaby Stephenson and her work in supporting Ukrainian libraries. You will also find ways to support Ukrainian libraries…what better way to celebrate libraries this week?
Many thanks to Dr. Anita Coleman for making these articles open access to ring in National Library Week!
Those Who Read to Their Heart, Win:
ALA NLLD 2026, Little Free Libraries in Ukraine with Spider-Man comics, and one California LIS student’s unexpected journey https://infophilia.substack.com/p/those-who-read-to-their-heart-win
This story “begins with a girl who loves her mom, her dad, and Model UN. Now a young woman and a graduate student in library and information science, she is following that love all the way to a Little Free Library in central Ukraine, where children are reaching for Spider-Man comics in front of handcrafted wooden libraries.”
The Living Library: The Maidan, the Ainu, and the Ethics of Preservation (Gaby Stephenson) https://infophilia.substack.com/p/the-living-library
“The Maidan Library emerged in 2014 during Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity as a ‘protest library,’ a physical collection within a temporary activist encampment. Occupying the Ukrainian House in Kyiv, volunteers transformed a conference center into a space that offered both physical and emotional warmth amid violent conflict.”