How libraries became a quiet battlefront in the war in Ukraine
Librarian Ksenya Kiebuzinski shares a handpicked selection of rare Ukrainian texts from the University of Toronto's Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library.
CBC Radio ·
Ksenya Kiebuzinski, the Slavic Resources Coordinator and Head of the Petro Jacyk Central & East European Resource Centre for the University of Toronto Libraries, holding a copy of the 1949 Ukrainian children's book Bim-bom, dzelenʹ-bom!, inside the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at the University of Toronto. (Peter Mitton/CBC)
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The Sunday Magazine11:20How libraries became a quiet battlefront in the war in Ukraine
As the war in Ukraine continues, libraries and librarians are not only working to preserve the record of the country's distinct history in books and maps... they're also networking together as volunteers around the world, to preserve its online cultural records today.
Among them is Ksenya Kiebuzinski, whose parents were Ukrainian refugees in the 20th century. She's the Slavic Resources Coordinator and Head of the Petro Jacyk Central & East European Resource Centre for the University of Toronto Libraries.
She recently took The Sunday Magazine inside the University of Toronto's Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library to talk about today's efforts, and share a handpicked selection of rare Ukrainian texts from the collection.
Cover of the 1949 Ukrainian children's book Bim-bom, dzelenʹ-bom! (Illustrated by Okhrim Sudomora)
Illustration inside the 1949 Ukrainian children's book Bim-bom, dzelenʹ-bom! (Illustrated by Okhrim Sudomora)
Kiebuzinski holds open a Gospel Book from the 1700s that was once housed in the St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery in Kyiv, until the monastery’s destruction by the Soviets in the 1930s. (Peter Mitton/CBC)
Kiebuzinski examines cartographer Guillaume le Vasseur de Beauplan’s map, Carte d’Ukranie, from 1660. It's the first map to show Ukraine as a discrete territory with delineated borders. (Peter Mitton/CBC)
Detail from Beauplan’s Carte d’Ukranie, circa 1660. (Peter Mitton/CBC)
