Libraries in the time of war

Abstract

The poster considers a role of a library for their community in the time of war. Since 2014, when the Russian Federation started its war and cultural genocide against Ukraine, all Ukrainian civilians – including librarians – have been under attack. More than 120 Ukrainian libraries have been partly or completely destroyed and around 4,000 libraries now find themselves in occupied territory. The multicultural historical heritage of Ukraine and the present-day culture of its various ethnic communities – Crimean Tatars, Mariupol Greeks, Roma, Jews, Ukrainians and others – are endangered. Ukrainian libraries continue to engage in the life of their communities, providing support and enabling society to survive the Russia’s war. Besides their traditional role, libraries are now also serving as bomb shelters, volunteer hubs and community centres, providing services around-the-clock. Ultimately, after the victory of the Ukrainian State, all Ukrainian libraries (including the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine, as the main academic library and scientific information centre in Ukraine) will not only return to their traditional role researching and preserving culture, helping develop science and education and digitizing their library resources, they will also help their communities recover, rebuild, remember the past and imagine the future.