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ALA has raised $25,000 for the Ukrainian Library Community!
Thanks for generous support from hundreds of donors ALA has sent $25,000 to the Ukrainian Library Association (ULA)
“The Ukrainian Library Association expresses our sincere gratitude to the American Library Association, and American library community for the unity and support of Ukraine and Ukrainian librarians,” said ULA President Oksana Brui.
The funds are being used under the title program “We Work for Victory” to:
- Restart their work, fulfill restoration and preservation of libraries that suffered as a result of hostilities or actions of Russian occupying forces and administrations (including repair work, purchase of equipment, replenishment of book collections, and other resources).
- Develop and provide services to internally displaced persons (IDPs), war veterans, those who study online, etc.
The ULA received 165 requests for support from libraries across Ukraine, the need is great.
ULA has distributed $15,000 so far, $1,500 to nine libraries and a $1,500 toward supporting individual library workers who have suffered from Russian invasion, including IDPs, sick or wounded, or who temporally do not receive salaries due to martial law. The other $10,000 will be provided to other libraries soon.
Here is the list of libraries that have received financial support:
- Horodnia Centralized Library System, Horodnia, Chernihiv oblast. The town is situated near the border with Russia and Belarus. It was under occupation for 41 days and continues to be under threat of shelling. The Library restored its services for the public last August and provides services for IDPs (adults, young adults, and kids) and war veterans along with other groups of citizens. They will purchase equipment (a laptop with accessories and a flipchart) and stationery to be used for programming. Using local community costs and involving volunteers, the Library will open a Hub with free access to the Internet, provide free consultations with psychologists and legal specialists, run cultural, educational and leisure programming helping IDPs and war veterans to adjust the local community and to cope with psychological problems caused by the war.
- Izum Central City Library, Izum, Kharkiv oblast. It oversees 10 libraries of the Izyum territorial community. The town was occupied on March 07-September 22, 2022. During the period of hostilities and occupation, the Library suffered great destruction and losses, namely: the library premises were damaged, 40% of the book collection, library furniture, computers, and copying equipment were destroyed. The Library will purchase equipment (two laptops with accessories) to provide access to Internet resources. Target audiences: youth that needs resources for online learning, IDPs to use resources that will help them to integrate into the local community, unemployed and elderly people in need of obtaining IT skills.
- Uman’ State Pavlo Tychyna Pedagogic University Library, Uman’, Cherkasy oblast. Target audience: war veterans and people with special needs (handicapped, visually impaired, etc.), IDPs. The Library will equip an inclusive place for persons with disabilities and will assist them to adapt to the educational environment. They plan to purchase a notebook, accessories and software for the visually impaired and a table for the handicapped. The Library will deal with the reproduction of information in forms accessible to perception by visually impaired and blind people (speech synthesizer, image enlargement, etc.).
- Koretsk Central City Library, Koretsk, Rivne oblast. Target audience: people with disabilities, in particular, wheelchair users. The project is aimed at improving accessibility, providing a comfortable stay in the library for persons with special needs and will contribute to attracting new library users, including visitors to library programs and events. They will install a ramp reconstructing the entrance group taking into account all accessibility requirements using local community funding and will use ALA Ukraine Library Relief Funds to purchase and install a lift for the disabled. A vertical lift for the disabled is a specialized mechanism in the form of a cantilever platform.
- Arbuzynka Central Library, urban village Arbuzynka, Mykolayiv oblast. Mykolayiv oblast is on the front line. To help to reduce the tension and to provide psychological relief to IDPs, the library will organize training for IDPs and interactive games, master classes, competitions, and entertainment events for IDP children and young adults. The library will purchase an interactive whiteboard, educational board games for children and will update its book collection.
- National University “Zaporizhzhia Polytechnic” Scientific Library, Zaporizhzhia. Part of the Zaporizhzhia oblast is occupied by Russian invaders. Zaporizhzhia city is under shelling. From September 2022, educational hubs of the Melitopol and Vasyliv districts of the Zaporizhzhia region, which are currently under occupation, are operating at the library. IDP teachers use the Library to run their online classes, students evacuated from the occupied territory come to the Library to study. They will purchase a projector, a projector screen, and a laptop with accessories.
- Myroniv Basic Library, Obukhiv rayon, Kyiv oblast. The Library includes the Myroniv Basic Library (for adults), a branch library for children, and 24 rural branch libraries. At the beginning of the full-scale war, when Russian invaders were near Kyiv, the library opened a Crisis Center, which is still functioning. IDPs, soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine turn to the library’s Crisis Center where they receive psychological and other support as well as take books for reading. The Library will purchase Ukrainian language books to update its book collection so it will be able to continue to provide services to IDPs encouraging them to take books home, become members of library clubs and reading groups, and participate in various leisure programs.
- Tokmakivka Central Library, Nikopil rayon, Dnipropetrovsk oblast. Urban village Tokmakivka is located in the Nikopol district, directly bordering the cities of Marhanets and Zaporizhzhia, which are currently under constant enemy shelling. Currently, the village became a shelter for 1,516 IDPs, and 3,240 IDPs have already lived in Tokmakivka moved there after 2014. The library provides library, information, and social services. Librarians free of charge, within the limits of their competence, help IDPs and other socially vulnerable residents of the community in applying for assistance from international organizations, paying for communal services, searching for job vacancies, and receiving various certificates (about income, about criminal records, details of payment cards). This library will purchase a copying machine with stationery to continue to provide these services to vulnerable population because the outdated library equipment was out of order due to heavy use.
- Okhtyrka Public Library, Okhtyrka, Sumy oblast. It includes the Central library and four branch libraries. During the full-scale Russian invasion into the territory of Ukraine, the city of Okhtyrka firmly resisted, its defenders successfully repelled the offensive of the invaders. The city suffered from bombings and Russian airstrikes. Three vacuum bombs and rockets from Russian aircraft partly destroyed the Okhtyrka Public Library’s branches No. 2 (for children) and 3 (for adults). The shock wave knocked out the balcony and entrance doors, seven windows, walls and ceiling; the heating system froze. In 2022, the local authorities provided funding to restore several broken windows and doors and partially carried out the restoration of walls and heating. The library will use funding from the ALA Ukraine Library Relief Fund to repair three library rooms, lighting and to change windows.
More is needed. Please consider donating. Donations are tax deductible. Read full press release.
Donate to the Ukraine Library Relief Fund
We encourage librarians to work with Friends, students, and others in creating community fund-raising efforts. Donations are tax deductible.
To send a donation via check, please make payable to the American Library Association with a notation that it is for Ukraine, and mail to:
American Library Association
225 N. Michigan Avenue
Suite 1300
Chicago, IL 60601
For further information, email intl@ala.org
Chernihiv Regional Library for Youth (before and after). Photo credit: https://artefact.org.ua
Lyceum N°25 Library in Zhytomyr (before and after). Photo credit: www.zhitomir.info
Left: Kharkiv Metropolitan Library organized a pop-up library in the metro station where families were taking shelter.
Right: Librarians and library workers making food at Khmelnytskyy Regional Scientific Library for those displaced by the war.
Left: Women at the Illinets City Multimedia Library in the Vinnytska region weave masking nets.
Right: A family sheltering at Solomyanska District Public Library in Kyiv.
Library Association Responses
American Library Association (ALA) -The American Library Association joins the International Federation of Library Associations in expressing support for the libraries and librarians of Ukraine.
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA)
The Library and Information Association (CILIP)
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL)
Book donations
#BooksGiveRefuge - Polish literacy foundation Fundacja Powszechnego Czytania (Universal Reading Foundation) is distributing books through Polish orphanages, day care centers, kindergartens, schools, libraries, and train stations where Ukrainian families are arriving, and, in some cases, sheltering for the short term.
#KidLitforUkraine - A virtual benefit to raise money for children of Ukraine (via Save the Children).
The Ukrainian Book Institute - supported by the Federation of European Publishers and the Bologna Children's Book Fair, appeals to the generosity of the book world with the goal to print in Europe hundreds of thousands of children's books in Ukrainian.
Publishers Weekly projects - the international publishing community has come together with a number of initiatives aimed at offering support to children’s authors, publishers, and aid organizations. For those interested in helping, there are a number of ways to get involved.
How to Donate to Humanitarian Organizations in Ukraine
The Ukrainian Red Cross - The Red Cross is often on the front lines of war serving to help those affected by armed conflict. The Ukrainian Red Cross is currently assisting people inside the country by aiding evacuations and providing shelter, food and basic necessities.
Save the Children - a global non-profit with the mission to lifesaving relief to children and deliver essential humanitarian aid, is calling for donations.
GlobalGiving - is raising funds to support locally-led organizations throughout Ukraine. Any donations to the fund will provide essentials for refugees, health, psychological and support and access to education and economic assistance.
Voices of Children Foundation - has been providing psychological support to children affected by war in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine through art therapy, video storytelling, mobile psychologists and more. Now, the organization is working to support children across the country with emergency psychological assistance and assisting in the evacuation process.
USA for UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, is raising funds to provide emergency supply kits, helping set up transit centers and providing temporary shelter to help Ukrainians displaced by the war. The organization has created a restricted donation fund where 100% of the donations will go toward supporting Ukrainian refugees.
Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Online (SUCHO), SUCHO is an initiative of over 1,500 international volunteers who are collaborating online to digitize and preserve Ukrainian cultural heritage. Since the start of the invasion, SUCHO has web-archived more than 5,000 websites and 50TB of data of Ukrainian cultural institutions, to prevent these websites from going offline.
Related News about Ukraine
Smithsonian Magazine (February 2023): “How Ukrainians Are Defending Their Cultural Heritage From Russian Destruction“
euronews (January 2023) - "Ukraine War: Irpin's library is an oasis of calm amid harsh conditions"
The Guardian (December 2022) - “‘Our mission is crucial’: meet the warrior librarians of Ukraine’"
Politico (May 3, 2022) - "Destruction of cultural sites in Ukraine puts country’s identity in peril"
The Washington Post (April 8, 2022) - "World's librarians, archivists rush to save Ukraine's digital history"
American Library Association Resources
ALA LibGuide on Library Disaster Preparedness and Response from the ALA Library - Disasters strike every area of the country, and disasters do not spare libraries. Usually there is little or no warning, and the best defense is a plan for effective response. This LibGuide offers resources for libraries of all sizes and types. It contains information on organizations that can provide disaster assistance; disaster recovery resources available online; and a bibliography of print resources.