On 24-25 April 2024, the XIV All-Ukrainian Scientific and Practical Conference “Library and Book in the Context of Time” was held at the Yaroslav Mudryi National Library of Ukraine with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy.
This year, the theme of the traditional annual conference, which brings together leading practitioners of the library industry, academics, and government officials, was “Priorities of Ukrainian Libraries in Wartime and Postwar Times”. It is worth noting that the organiser of the large-scale scientific and educational event, the main professional union of the industry, the Ukrainian Library Association, is a full member of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) and actively and informally cooperates with international partners, carrying out cultural diplomacy on international communication platforms, which is extremely important in the current conditions of war. The conference, which was held in a mixed format, highlighted a number of important tasks that library institutions face today and will remain on the agenda in the post-war period.
At the beginning of the event, the participants were greeted by: Deputy Head of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Taras Shevchenko, as well as Head of the Department of Socio-Cultural Development of Regions of the MCIP Department of Socio-Cultural Development Kateryna Orliuk, President of the Ukrainian Library Association, Deputy Director General of the Yaroslav Mudryi National Library of Ukraine for the Formation and Use of Documentary Resources, Candidate of Social Communications Oksana Brui, and Director General of the Yaroslav Mudryi National Library of Ukraine, Doctor of Social Communications Oleh Serbin.
The speaker of the conference was the Head of the Department of the Ukrainian Studies, Culture and Documentation of the National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Iryna Perederii, who presented an interesting and constructive report “International Cooperation as an Important Factor of Protecting the Cultural Heritage of Ukraine in the Context of the russian Aggression against Ukraine”. In her speech, Poltava Polytechnic’s scientist focused the audience’s attention on the generally accepted universal principles of protecting cultural monuments developed in the system of international humanitarian law during the armed conflict, the list and content of legal acts protecting cultural property under such conditions, analysing the probable reasons for not signing or withdrawing one’s signature from the relevant legal acts of the aggressor country, the systematic nature of cultural property pillage by the russian federation in Ukraine and its leading forms, as well as describing the most effective and efficient forms of international cooperation in the preservation of cultural heritage.
The report of the scientist from the multidisciplinary classical university was received with interest by the participants, as it prompted appropriate reflections and informal discussion, guiding library practitioners in identifying priority areas of international cooperation.
During two informative days, the participants of the XIV All-Ukrainian Scientific and Practical Conference “Library and Book in the Context of Time” worked effectively and shared their own achievements in the following areas:
- Ukrainian libraries in the context of russian aggression: challenges and opportunities;
- protection of cultural heritage and cultural values in the context of armed conflicts and emergencies;
- digitisation of documentary heritage as a way to preserve it: foreign experience and prospects for Ukraine;
- post-war restoration of libraries: foreign experience;
- electronic resources of libraries: peculiarities of formation and current emphasis;
- current information resources of libraries: accessibility, technology, potential;
- library activities to promote reading and its effectiveness;
- vision of public libraries in the post-war society: capacity building.
An important part of the conference was the “Digital Libraries” roundtable, during which participants discussed the implementation of the National Digital Library of Ukraine project; digital library software; Ukrainian experience in digitising and making library collections available online; and creating library media content using artificial intelligence and neural networks.
Recently, scientists from around the world discussed the peculiarities of foreign language training in wartime, future specialists in the tourism industry improved their professional competences at the Volodymyr Korolenko Literary and Memorial Museum, and Polytechnic students met with the liquidators who wrote a book about the Poltava residents – heroes of Chornobyl.
It should be recalled that earlier, a Polytechnic scientist presented a report on the potential of libraries in modern information wars, presented a report on the looting of cultural property as a strategy of the aggressor country, and documentary scientists successfully completed their internship at the State Archive of the Poltava Region, the textbook of Polytechnic scientists won the competition organised by the National Academy of Sciences of Higher Education of Ukraine, documentary scientists held an international conference on documentary and information communications in the context of globalisation, and future documentary scientists got acquainted with the activities of the State Archives of the Poltava Region.
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National University “Yuri Kondratyuk Poltava Polytechnic”
