Ukraine Crisis Hub

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has triggered an humanitarian crisis across Europe. CILIP is working to support our professional colleagues in Ukraine and to coordinate support from our members and partner organisations.

This page brings together all of the information we have on the invasion and its impact, as well as how you can support the relief effort across the region.

Donations

Following discussion with our colleagues at the Ukraine Library Association (ULA), we are not running a separate fundraiser to support our professional colleagues directly. Instead, they have asked us to direct members to two appeals, both of which are targeting resources where they are most needed:

Donate via the British Red Cross DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal

Donate via the International Rescue Committee DEC Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal

We will be working with our colleagues in-region to support post-crisis relief and recovery and will share information on how our profession can best respond via this Hub.

Support for Ukrainian information professionals

Ukrainian librarians and information professionals displaced by the invasion who find themselves in the UK are able to join CILIP free of charge and to access our professional support including:

• Advice on finding work
• Access to job listings
• A one-to-one conversation with a specialist recruiter
• Support from our Special Interest Groups
• Free access to professional registration and continuing professional development

Apply for free membership of CILIP now

Ukraine Library Association

We are in regular contact with representatives of the Ukraine Library Association, who are coordinating support for librarians and information professionals in the region. The ULA have published a number of important statements via their Facebook page:

Main ULA Facebook Page

Call for a boycott of Russian institutions by international Library organisations

Call to collect digital documents about the invasion, to be assembled into a Digital Library

Bank account details for direct donations (NOTE: we have not been able to verify these details)

Letter to the international library community from Oksana Brui, ULA President

Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Online project (SUCHO)

CILIP encourages members to get involved in SUCHO, a distributed project to capture, archive and preserve digital cultural materials from Ukraine and relating to the war in Ukraine.

Find out about SUCHO and how you can get involved

Government responses to CILIP concerns over Ukraine

CILIP has written to the Foreign Secretary and Culture Departments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to share our concerns about the danger to libraries, collections and cultural property during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. We are grateful for the responses received from the Scottish Government and Welsh Government – see excerpts below:

“There can be no doubting Ukraine’s rich culture and heritage and its literary heritage is indeed central to this great legacy. As the position in Ukraine deteriorates we are witness to more indiscriminate bombing of civilians and heritage and culture sites, the Scottish Government recognises the vital importance in ensuring that we collectively do all we can to protect Ukraine’s unique heritage for future generations

I can assure you that the Scottish Government and I will continue to engage with the UK Government on a UK-wide humanitarian response to the Ukraine crisis and my officials will continue working with their counterparts in the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and other agencies on the protection of Ukraine’s Culture and Heritage.”

- Neil Gray, Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development and Minister with special responsibility for Refugees from Ukraine on behalf of the Scottish Government. Full response

“We note with concern the damage to libraries, archives and the public record in the Ukraine as a consequence of the conflict. We do not underestimate the role and significance of libraries, and other cultural heritage organisations, in the preservation of the national identity of Ukraine. [..] The First Minister has also reiterated Wales’s commitment as a Nation of Sanctuary to support refugees.”

- Carys Dawson, Culture Division on behalf of the Welsh Government. Full response

CILIP is in contact with the Deputy Culture Minister of the Ukraine and other political stakeholders in order to continue to raise awareness of the work of librarians and information professionals in the region. Further updates will be posted here in due course.

Statement of Solidarity

CILIP was pleased to coordinate a Statement of Solidarity with librarians, information professionals and archivists caught up in the Ukrainian crisis. This Statement has been shared with colleagues across Ukraine via the Ukraine Library Association.

The Statement has been signed by 22 national organisations and more than 1,000 UK and international information professionals.

View and sign the Statement

Statement by APPG LInK on the protection of libraries, archives and the public record in Ukraine

Statement by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Libraries, Information and Knowledge (APPG LInK) on the protection of libraries, archives and the public record in Ukraine.

Read the statement

IFLA

CILIP has written to the Governing Board of IFLA in favour of a temporary suspension of Russian institutions from IFLA membership during the invasion of Ukraine.

Our policy is that librarians and information professionals should not be sanctioned for the actions of their Government. However, the invasion of Ukraine and the shelling of civilian targets means that we believe that the international community should be united in sending a clear message to the Russian authorities that their action is wholly unwarranted and unacceptable.

Read the IFLA Statement on Ukraine

Blue Shield

CILIP supports and is a member of the UK Committee of the International Blue Shield – the organisation which works to protect cultural heritage and sites during natural disasters, conflicts and other humanitarian crises.

Read the Blue Shield Statement on Cultural Property in Ukraine

Read ‘Lost for Words – protecting libraries and archives in Ukraine’ in the Scotsman on Sunday

Combatting disinformation

CILIP and the Media and Information Literacy Alliance have pulled together a guide and downloadable infographic to help address the issue around disinformation and 'fake news' around the Russian invasion of Ukraine.