A familiar community space could soon take on a critical wartime mission, following lessons learned by Ukrainian librarians on the front lines of crisis.<\/p>\n
Libraries in Ukraine should play a broader role than simply serving as places for reading and socializing. They can become an important part of the country\u2019s security infrastructure, helping communities remain resilient during wartime. Deputy Minister of Culture Bohdana Laiuk stated this during a discussion at the BestsellerFest festival in Lviv, the Ministry of Culture reported.<\/p>\n
Libraries as Hubs of Community Resilience<\/p>\n
Bohdana Laiuk emphasized that cultural institutions in some European countries are already integrated into their total defense systems. This approach is used in particular in the Nordic countries, where libraries are seen as spaces that support people, strengthen psychological resilience, and help communities function in times of crisis.<\/p>\n
Libraries should not merely be the main meeting place for communities; they should also become part of the country\u2019s security infrastructure. In some European countries, libraries are already incorporated into the total defense system. This applies primarily to the Nordic countries, which see the role of cultural institutions and establishments both in defense and in building people\u2019s psychological resilience<\/p>\n
\u2013 Bohdana Laiuk<\/p>\n
According to her, the experience of Ukrainian librarians can already be useful to the international professional community. Library staff have worked amid the evacuation and relocation of institutions, the loss and rescue of book collections, assisted internally displaced people, supported the military, and remained important centers for local communities.<\/p>\n
Library Losses Due to Russian Aggression<\/p>\n
The library network is one of the largest networks of cultural institutions in Ukraine. At the same time, it ranks second in the number of cultural institutions that have been destroyed or damaged as a result of Russian aggression.<\/p>\n
As of the end of July 2026, 906 libraries had been affected since the start of the full-scale invasion:<\/p>\n
228 libraries were destroyed;
\n678 institutions were damaged.<\/p>\n
Updating Library Collections and Reforming the Network<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Culture, together with the Ministry of Finance, is working to restore the program for updating library book collections. At the same time, an institutional reform of the network of cultural institutions is underway, aimed at strengthening their capacity to serve communities.<\/p>\n
The BestsellerFest festival in Lviv was held for the second time, from August 7 to 9, 2026. The nationwide summer book event brought together more than 50 publishers, authors of Ukrainian bestsellers, bloggers, and readers. The festival program featured more than 120 events dedicated to books, culture, and the contemporary literary process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A familiar community space could soon take on a critical wartime mission, following lessons learned by Ukrainian librarians…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28671,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[10268,10269,10270,82,1246,10271,10272,10267],"class_list":["post-28670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-community-resilience","tag-cultural-infrastructure","tag-library-reform","tag-news","tag-russian-aggression","tag-total-defence","tag-ukrainian-libraries","tag-ukrainian-libraries-community-resilience-cultural-infrastructure-total-defence-library-reform-russian-aggression"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ukraine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}