Community Engagement Portal: Focus Ukraine

About the Portal

Community Engagement Portal: Focus Ukraine functions as a space for iSchool faculty, students, staff and alumni to learn about the efforts of Ukrainian libraries during wartime, and to make partnerships to support Ukrainian librarians and the communities they serve.

Our initiatives began in 2022, responding to the full scale invasion on Ukraine. The capital, Kyiv, and border regions were the first to come under attack, and were subjected to enormous shelling. Many residents of these areas sought refuge in Cherkasy region, Central Ukraine, an area with a relatively higher degree of security, and we have focused on that region as one of our primary on-ground work to help Ukrainians.

Our initiatives include fundraising, book and technology donations, support of programming, and dissemination of information about the experiences of Ukrainians during the wartime via symposia, publishing and working with the press, and thematic programming, including art and poetry competitions among the children in these areas.

Our current fundraisers continue to focus on Cherkasy and also Kiev (Boyarka community) regions.

Our first fundraiser, Supporting Ukrainian Village Libraries aims to raise 1,000 dollars for seven different rural libraries where many displaced people reside. These villages are social hubs that desperately need books. The regions include Boyarka, Kiev, and Cherkasy.
Our second fundraiser, Support Literacy For Ukraine’s War Affected Kids seeks to raise money to build safe library houses for children to read, rest, and dream.

We welcome partnerships and projects for our Ukrainian colleagues. Libraries and librarians are often first responders during wartime, and we aim to show support and offer a little respite during these difficult times.

We look for partners and for support.