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Ukrainian Libraries a Year Later

You donโ€™t have to be a librarian to think about the damages of war to libraries. If you love books, you must be horrified to see images of shelled buildings and piles of burning books, as one canโ€™t help following the news about Ukraine. The images keep coming: television, newspapers, Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, your choice of media.

๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ

A year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, our heart goes out to the fallen and their loved ones, to the ones who were forced to leave everything behind for the unknown, to the ones in the trenches, literally and figuratively.

The world learned to drop the definite article before the name of the country (read ourย Books We Read About Ukraine to see the significance), President Biden visited the war-scarred Kyiv,ย the Eiffel Tower and other landmark buildings went blue and yellow all over the world. Itโ€™s been a whole year. We canโ€™t help thinking of the unsung heroes too.


We admire the Ukrainian professor whose photo went viral: a notebook in one hand, a cell phone in the other, giving lectures to his students from the trenches. His name is ะคะตะดั–ั€ ะจะฐะฝะดะพั€, transliterated into English asย Fedir Shandor, into Hungarian asย Sรกndor Ferenc / Fegyir ย – heโ€™s from Zakarpattia, an area where someone might have lived in several different countries within the past hundred years without ever leaving their village, as borders were pushed around by wars and treaties. People speaking different languages at home (Hungarian for one) were living peacefully together. The trenches are covered in snow again.

๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ

We admire Ukrainian librarians for doing their job in public, academic, and special libraries in war-torn cities, towns, and villages in Ukraine: reaching out to their communities and serving their needs, whether providing shelter or books or adding value in other, meaningful ways, unimaginable for a librarian living in peace and safety: offering bomb shelters and camouflage classes.

๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ

We admire Oksana Bruy,ย the president of the Ukrainian Library Association, for her leadership and the role she has taken in not only salvaging and preserving invaluable intellectual treasures, but mobilizing the world to assist. In an international Zoom meeting in April 2022, she gave a heatbreaking summary of what the Russian occupation of Ukraine meant to libraries. The pictures she showed us were just pale illustrations of the horrific destruction and the damage caused by the Russian army. She also called for the responsibility of Russian librarians for the lack of proper information for the Russian people. The world has learned about the difficulties with the transliteration (or Romanization) of Cyrillic through her name: she uses her name ะžะบัะฐะฝะฐ ะ‘ั€ัƒะน both as Bruy and Brui.

๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ

We admire Ukrainian archivists who were among the first to realize the danger: destroying material means destroying past history, allowing volatile Russian politics to airbrush history, a technique preferred in the Soviet Union before Photoshop was invented. At the same event in April 2022, the director of the Central State Archives of Ukraineย pointed out that documenting anti-Ukrainian activities committed by Russians, whether previously taken to Moscow or destroyed during the war, would certainly be impossible to replace.

๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ

We admire the international librariansโ€™ community that launched an initiative on 1 March, 2022 of over 1,500 international volunteers who are collaborating online to digitize and preserve Ukrainian cultural heritage. The project calledย Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Online, or SUCHO, is currentlyย curating the full 50TB of web archives collected so far.

๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ

We admire professional organizations forย standing by our colleaguesย โ€“ and values, spearheaded by the American Library Association through resolutions such asย ALA Condemns Destruction of Libraries, Schools, and Cultural Institutions in Ukraine. Partners of the Ukrainian Library Association, the Goethe Institute and the German Library Association, found a way to bring Ukrainian language books to German libraries in a project called “A suitcase with books,” calling attention to the many refugees who were forced to leave Ukraine with a small suitcase. Itโ€™s highly unlikely that a book made it into that suitcase, but librarians understand the importance of reading, especially for children who continue their education remotely in Ukrainian schools.

๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆย ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ฆ

We admire major news outlets for putting libraries and librarian on their agenda, showing the world the significance of collections, services, and outreach in libraries and archives. The Guardian article โ€˜Our mission is crucialโ€™: Meet the warrior librarians points out the unbreakable spirit of Ukrainian librarians and provides rich content and context related to their activities. The New York Times calls this war “the true culture war,” and illustrates the destruction of Ukrainian culture with plenty of images. NPR was one of the first to present libraries in their new, unwanted roles, as mentioned: offering bomb shelters and camouflage classes.


PoetryOur blog advocates finding solace in Books We Read, or, at a minimum, trying to make sense of the world via reading texts that resonate with our current state of mind, connecting, literally or virtually, with like-minded individuals, discussing and processing difficult situations with the help of books and reading, the classic definition of bibliotherapy.

Reading poetry, including war poetry, is one of the many ways to cope. Poems from Ukraine speak to our worst fears, whether written in 2014 or 2022. This war has brought more poems to us, many of them already translated into English too. If only we didnโ€™t have to post war poetry. Ever.

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