Lyusyena Shum.
but also through the development of new services delivered by the public library network. She says: “We have r eplenished the funds of Ukrainian libraries by more than 70,000 modern books, implemented regional initi- atives for the development of libraries, and initiated innovative projects – the ‘Green Libraries in Ukraine’ movement, the ‘Healthy Libraries’ educational project, and the ‘Seeds Libraries’ initiative.” These initiatives mirror priorities seen elsewhere in library services, as they pivot to providing solutions for communities focused on health, education, sustainabil- ity and economic development. Lyusyena reveals that Library Country has been happy to incorporate best practice from
Books drying out after flooding in Kherson.
around the world, saying: “I do not have a library education and came to this field from the NGO sector as a civic activist and book lover. Over the years of working at the foundation, I have visited dozens of libraries in Ukraine and around the world, I have seen both very successful and not so successful examples, I know all the prob- lems in the field of libraries in Ukraine and imagine how to overcome them.” Lyusyena adds: “We have long been thinking about the importance of public health promotion through libraries, and in the times of Covid this acquired special importance, because Ukrainians do not often follow the rules of prevention such as proper nutrition, sufficient physical activity, adequate sleep, they know little about the prevention of non-infectious diseases that we acquire due to incorrect lifestyle.
“Therefore, thanks to the Ukrainian Swiss Project ‘Act for Health’, we started work in 20 pilot communities in libraries, where we bought books on health topics, set up health corners (purchased medical equipment, tonometer, blood glucose meter, etc.), sports equipment and trained librarians with knowledge on health prevention. We have positive results; librarians emphasise that community interest and awareness of these topics have grown.”
The war in Ukraine has sparked new impetus for Library Country’s work in communities across the country. Lyusyena points out “It is also important now to provide psychological support to Ukrain- ians who were internally displaced, lost their homes, lost their jobs, whose
30 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL
relatives died or were wounded in the war. And libraries provide such help. We want to develop the initiative of bibliotherapy more broadly, also for the sake of helping the affected Ukrainians, of whom there are thousands.” As well as the human toll the war is inflicting damage on towns and cities, and this inevitably means library build- ings and collections are also in danger. Library Country has stepped in here to extend its mission and work with library services and local communities that are facing unprecedented difficulties. Lyusyena says: “Since the beginning of russia’s [according to the Ukraini- an orthography, it was customary to write Russia with a lowercase letter so this is not a mistake] large-scale invasion of Ukraine, we have been working to restore libraries, help the library community to recover, and develop international partnerships for the sake of reconstruction. Now more than 600 libraries have been damaged and destroyed because of russia’s war against Ukraine, thousands of Ukrain- ian books were also destroyed. Thou- sands of library workers were affected: were forced to evacuate, lost their homes, jobs, and livelihoods, and were injured and killed.”
As part of that aid, a financial pack- age worth €12,000 was distributed to 200 librarians and used to purchase urgent medicines and hygiene products (
https://bit.ly/46AFZ95). Lyusyena adds: “We are a partner in the ‘Book Grants for Libraries of Ukraine’ initiative, which is implemented jointly with Ukrainian Publishers & Booksellers Associa- tion with the financial support of writers and booksellers ‘Helping Ukrainian Books and Booksellers’ https://helpukrain-
ianbooks.org. Currently, within the framework of this initiative, 6,000 new Ukrainian books have been purchased
Green library in Kyiv. October-November 2023
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