April through July, the Ukrainian Library Renaissance’s managers were busy working with 17 participating village libraries. They handpicked and purchased new releases from several Ukrainian publishers. Apart from that, each library received an ASUS Vivobook laptop, complete with the latest upgrades, to facilitate its daily operations. As of today, 2,565 books have been purchased from publishers and are awaiting delivery to the next recipients in line.

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According to the approved budget of the Ukrainian Library Renaissance project, each of the 55 participating libraries should receive 200 books and an ASUS laptop this year. So far, 5,965 books have been purchased and 3,400 delivered, including 1,225 books from the previous purchase. Regular shelling of Ukrainian power plants and electrical infrastructure has unfortunately slowed down book deliveries. With support from the Zimin Foundation, however, 31 of the 55 participating village libraries have received their books and laptops through ULR; 24 are still awaiting theirs.

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“І вдячність фонду Зіміна, який підтримує стипендіями наших українських студентів у Чехії і виділив грант на закупівлю в українських видавництвах українських книжок для підтримки постраждалих бібліотек. Діла добрих оновляться, діла злих - загинуть! Переможемо!”

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(“We thank the Zimin Foundation, which supports the stipends of our Ukrainian students in the Czech Republic and has allocated a grant to purchase Ukrainian books from Ukrainian Publishers to support damaged libraries. The deeds of the kind shall prevail, the deeds of the evil shall fail! We’re going to win,” wrote Olga Romanuk, director of the Lesya Ukrainka Kyiv City Library, in a letter to the Zimin Foundation.)

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As the war in Ukraine continues, 12,908 public libraries (including the National Library in Kyiv) are still open and working daily, helping sustain social life within their communities. The assistance that ULR provides to the most vulnerable libraries in the country is absolutely essential to the survival of these places, which have become centers of social life for the locals who could not evacuate from their war-torn country.

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Under the project Книжки вслід, or #Books_Follow, two major purchases have been completed from April through July: for a Ukrainian community in Varna (Bulgaria) and for a Ukrainian school in Prague (Czech Republic), where we delivered textbooks for grades 1 through 9. Apart from that, a large book order is in progress for a new Ukrainian library in Prague. Frequent power outages in Ukraine are slowing down book deliveries, complicating purchases. Right now the project is focusing on procuring more textbooks before school starts on September 1: Ukrainian schools for refugee children in Europe need more class books.

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