How Libraries are Helping Ukrainians Survive During Wartime

The following article was written by Tetiana Hranchak, a member of the Board of the Ukrainian Library Association and a visiting assistant teaching professor at the Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs in the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

Tetiana Hranchak

Ukraine is suffering. Our communities are being ruined. Our souls are devastated. But we are alive. On February 24, 2022, the Ukrainians suffered a powerful blow from Russia. Nowadays, the Ukrainian people are facing destruction and heavy losses. Our communities and people’s lives are being destroyed, and we need support and protection more than ever. Libraries, created thousands of years ago to support the vitality of communities, nowadays help Ukrainians to survive in war conditions and provide physical, informational, psychological, and spiritual protection.

Here are the many ways libraries support the community:

• Libraries are bomb shelters. From the first days of the war, many libraries provided physical protection. For example, Central City Library for Children in Mykolaiv is a 24/7 bomb shelter that can accommodate up to 180 people at a time.
• Libraries are volunteer centers. Many have become hubs of volunteer activity. Librarians, library patrons and community members are cooking dinners for those who fought and are being treated at local hospitals. Together with volunteer organizations, librarians and community residents collect and make clothes and products for refugees and for the front. In this way, a community of practice is being built – providing a sense of unity, social integration and security for new members of the community who left their homes to escape the war. Along with weaving camouflage nets, people are creating social nets in library spaces.
• Libraries are territories of goodness. Since 2014, when the first forced migrants from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea appeared, libraries have taken a proactive position. The Ministry of Culture of Ukraine adopted an Order to launch the project, “Libraries as Community Support Centers in the Conditions of a War Threat: Working with Internally Displaced People.” According to the Order, libraries participate in helping those in need by actively participating in information, legal and educational work.
• Libraries help displaced people. Cooperating with state authorities, charity foundations, state structures, employment centers, psychological, social and legal services, libraries help displaced people find temporary housing and work, get information about their rights and ways to use them, renew social ties, get access to the Internet and computer equipment to continue studying, attend language courses, improve and acquire IT skills, and more.
• Libraries are hubs of digital education. About 6,000 libraries joined the national digital literacy campaign in Ukraine. Through the signing of the Memorandum on Cooperation between the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Library Association, many libraries have become digital education hubs.
• Libraries are media literacy training centers. An important direction of libraries is to increase the level of media literacy and the formation of critical thinking of the population, which is essential during this era of the information war. Many libraries organize lectures, trainings and webinars, and participate in media literacy weeks. Libraries joined the nationwide media literacy project from the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. One of the latest initiatives supported by the Ukrainian Library Association is the recording of a series of conversations with famous Ukrainians about information hygiene and its role in everyday life through the lens of cultural, historical and personal experience.
• Libraries are sites of remembering. It is where the memories of the past are housed. Ukrainian Institute of National Memory noted that this war has brought up issues related to cultural characteristics, spiritual values and ideals, which determine the uniqueness of a community and its identity. The library is a memory institution that collects and preserves documented historical and cultural heritage. As such, libraries are integral to the politics of memory, helping people protect their values and identity.

Ideally, libraries’ memorial, socio-political, cultural, educational and other activities must be directed to the formation and establishment of national memory, contribute to the state’s information security and help its integration into the world humanitarian space.

Ukrainian culture is under the gun. Many libraries’ funds were lost, and buildings were damaged. 700 public and university libraries are damaged or destroyed and more than 4,000 are under occupation. An important achievement of the Ukrainian Library Association was the establishment of interaction with partners for reconstruction and the preservation of library and information resources, assistance to libraries to maintain service, and organization of efforts to restore damaged library buildings and lost library collections. At the same time, the American Library Association, in cooperation with the Ukrainian Library Association, launched the Fund for the Support of Ukrainian Libraries.

I am proud to say that among all the changes, what remains unchangeable is the dedication of librarians to their readers and the library work, the belief in victory and the capacity of the library community.

Visit the Syracuse Libraries website to read the full story.