At the start of the war in Ukraine, we watched in horror the destruction (also shared widely on social media), which caught the attention of librarians concerned about disinformation and information literacy in general. We have been following what our Ukrainian librarian colleagues were doing to save and preserve Ukrainian culture, a task that we, as fellow librarians, take pride in and deeply appreciate.
Adding August 24 – The Independence Day of Ukraine, – to our calendar was inspired by our friends at the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America (UNWLA). As our guests at Rutgers in the Fall 2023 semester, we helped advocate and educate the public about Ukraine then and now.
Read our interview about their efforts:
First, we wanted to know “what people know” about Ukraine, and we also became interested in what books were available about Ukraine in our libraries. Additionally, we posted about poets and poems from Ukraine, as well as what war poetry is good for, regardless of geography.
Growing up so close to the Ukrainian border, I couldn’t help writing about a book that shares similar, disturbing war experiences during WW II, narrated by a survivor, who became a practicing thanatologist (a professional who studies death, dying, and grief), complemented by a list of Rutgers University Libraries titles on war crimes and rape.
This post and many of the others related to Ukraine come with trigger warnings, such as “This post contains graphic content dealing with sexual assault and war crimes against civilians.” These are warnings that are still valid in 2025, on CNN, Reuters, and BBC News, with the usual “Viewer’s discretion advised” or “Warning! Graphic content.”
In an earlier post, I also quoted “When arms speak, muses are silent,” the English paraphrase for an aphorism attributed to Cicero, albeit with a slightly different word order. Inter arma enim silent lēgēs is Latin for, literally, “For among arms, the laws are silent.”
Laws and muses are still silent. But Kyiv is still under Ukrainian administration.
Related posts from Books We Read
Memorializing the Ukrainian heroes who faced the infamous Russian Warship. 5-minute sketch by Art Librarian Megan C. Lotts upon our special request. Click on the image for the post.