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Supporting Ukrainian Libraries

The LHRT News & Notes editing team has compiled the following links about Ukrainian libraries and the war, including ways that library historians and library workers in general can help the people of Ukraine. We’ll continually update the list as new resources appear. Please send us additional links at lhrtnewsandnotes@gmail.com

Statements & Appeals from Professional Bodies

Appeal letter from the president of the Ukraine Library Association to members of IFLA

“In these challenging times Ukrainian librarians are together with all the people. There where it is possible, libraries continue to provide their services to users, including online services. Libraries are working in cyberspace against disinformation. Libraries are holding classes in emergency medical assistance. Hostels, care units for displaced persons are accommodated in libraries.”–Executive Director of Ukrainian Library Association

International Federation of Library Associations–Statement on Ukraine

Statement from Australian Library and Information Association on the situation in Ukraine

Statement of solidarity with librarians, archivists and information professionals in Ukraine (The Library and Information Association)
Association of Research Libraries– Statement on Ukraine
American Library Association Stands with Ukraine Library Community

Special Library Association Condemns Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

Association of Jewish Libraries

Around the World, Associations Express Support for Ukraine Counterparts (PCMA)

UNESCO’s statement on the recent developments in Ukraine

Even in Russia, writers and publishers are protesting the invasion of Ukraine (The Virginian-Pilot)

“Among the outraged voices protesting Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine: bookish types, including PEN International and the American Booksellers Association.”

Ways to Help

Library-Oriented Ways to Support Ukraine

Libraries Helping Ukraine (Council for Slavonic and East European Library and Information Services)

Lists ways library workers can provide virtual help (such as by crowdsourcing lists of resources and archiving news about the war). “Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, library and archive professionals around the world have been reaching out to their Ukrainian counterparts to help them and thinking of ways to help make sure that information about the war is preserved. This page (which is regularly updated) tries to capture various initiatives. Please use the discussion function at the bottom of this page to suggest others to add.”

Ukraine Library Association–News

Lists several ways to help affected libraries.

Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Online (SUCHO)

“We are a group of cultural heritage professionals – librarians, archivists, researchers, programmers – working together to identify and archive at-risk sites, digital content, and data in Ukrainian cultural heritage institutions while the country is under attack. We are using a combination of technologies to crawl and archive sites and content, including the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine, the Browsertrix crawler and the ArchiveWeb.page browser extension and app of the Webrecorder project.”

Libraries of Sanctuary (UK)

Group dedicated to making libraries welcoming places for displaced people.

International Education’s Ukraine Crisis Response

Provides funds to Ukrainian students, scholars, and artists.

LibCrisis

This is a wonderful facebook group of library workers who provide “a centralized location for collecting and disseminating information about urgent political or natural disasters’ effects on libraries and library services.” Discussions of data rescue for Ukraine.

Lost for words: protecting libraries and archives in Ukraine – Nick Poole

This blog post addresses what is happening in Ukraine and also the threat that libraries and archives face during war – by bombing and shelling libraries/archives, there is an erasure of cultural history.

How to avoid sharing bad information about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine MIT Technology Review

As library workers build bibliographies to support Ukraine, here are some ideas to ensure quality information.

General Ways to Support Ukraine

National Bank of Ukraine Accepting Donations

Want to support the people in Ukraine? Here’s how you can help (National Public Radio–United States)

News about Ukrainian Libraries, Cultural Institutions, & Publishers

As Ukraine Battles Russia, Librarians Are Forming Their Own ‘Internet Military’ Against Fake News (Outlook–India)

“Libraries under the Ukraine Libraries Association have been helping civilians and military personnel alike by providing training in home care for the injured and also doubling as temporary asylums for civilians displaced by war.”

Volunteers in Lviv Gather and Create Camouflage to Assist Ukrainian Military (MSN Video)

“Volunteers are gathered in a library to make camouflage nets for the Ukrainian military.

Russia’s War of Words with Ukraine (Publisher’s Weekly)

Publishers’ views on the war, and how publishers can support colleagues in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s libraries are offering bomb shelters, camouflage classes and, yes, books (National Public Radio–USA)

“The country’s librarians are hard at work trying to keep their collections safe — and making sure people can access books and other materials.”

Ukrainian libraries, serving as bomb shelters, continue to prove that libraries are our best hope (Literary Hub)

How libraries support the defense effort.

When a library becomes a bomb shelter (Montrose Times)

“the libraries and librarians of Ukraine have responded to the crisis unfolding around them by doing what libraries do best: providing a central hub for their entire community.”

Ukrainians in Romania – the help of the library community (Ukraine Library Association)

How libraries in Romania are supporting Ukrainians displaced by the invasion

Libraries affected by Russian aggression

Lists specific libraries devastated

Ukrainian Libraries & Their History

Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science–Ukraine: Libraries–By Lyudmila Shpilevaya

An excellent introduction to the history of Ukrainian libraries.

Making Ukrainians in the Library: Language, Libraries, and National Identity (Canadian Journal of Information and Library Science)

Examines the importance of libraries in building Ukrainian independence after its secession from the Soviet Union in 1991. Dr. Maria Haigh “sketches initial findings in three areas: the role of national and research libraries in constructing a print corpus in national languages, language choice for public library website provision, and language use in library and information science education and professional discourse.”

Ukrainian Libraries at a Time of Political Unrest: Observations from a Ten-Day Journey (Library Trends)

Author Amy Campbell describes firsthand the state of Ukrainian libraries after the 2014 Russian invasion of Crimea.

Libraries of Ukraine for children as sociocultural centers of community (National Aviation University–Ukraine)

“The publication analyzes the activity of the modern children’s library of Ukraine as a sociocultural phenomenon.”

Ukrainian library reinvents itself for a New Age (Global Voices)

This is an interesting article about a particular library that has adapted to make itself more utilized by the public. And a super interesting fact from the article is that Ukraine has 15000 public libraries for its 42 million population. In comparison, the US had around 9000 public libraries for its 329.5 million population! Go Ukraine!

National Historical Library of Ukraine

This piece is about the National Historical Library of Ukraine, which is directly related to the above article, as it was destroyed during WW2 and much of the cultural history of Ukraine went with it. Now, “the Library is Ukrainian depository of historical and regional ethnography literature: its collection numbers more than 700 000 copies in 52 foreign languages.”

History of the Ukrainian Library Association

The association supports conferences, professional associations, voting rights, information literacy, intellectual freedom, accessibility of information.

Escaping Lenin’s Library: Library and Information Science Education in Independent Ukraine (International Information & Library Review)

Author Maria Haigh covers the history of Ukrainian library education, comparing it to LIS curricula in the United States. Incorporates interviews with Ukrainian scholars.

Ukrainian Journal on Library and Information Science

Peer-reviewed, open access journal about library and information. Covers the “theoretical and applied aspects of library science, book science, archival studies, document science, information technology, information, library and archival practices.”

Activists, Soldiers Move to Protect Libraries in Ukraine [2014 invasion of Crimea] (Publishing Perspectives)

Additional Resources

New York Public Library Reading List on Ukrainian History

Federal Documents–Sources on the Russo-Ukrainian Conflict (East Carolina University)

Library of Congress–East European Government Ministries Web Archive

Ukrainica (Electronic Library of Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine)

Rich digital archive of Ukrainian culture and history. Translations available through drop-down box at top right corner.

Institute of History of Ukraine

Ukrainian and English versions available. Some sections may require use of Google Translate. Includes Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine as well as full journals, books, and primary sources on Ukrainian history.


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