The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) stands with the people of Ukraine as they struggle against the unprovoked invasion of their country by Russian forces. Supporting human rights is central to CLIR’s mission, and we are committed to working with our international partners to assist our Ukrainian colleagues.
This conflict underscores the importance of self-determination and the threat of authoritarianism to democracy. It reminds us that access to information and communication networks are integral to a free society and essential to combating misinformation and closing the digital divide. And it summons past conflicts that, in addition to taking human lives, have sought to erase a people’s identity by destroying their cultural heritage. Colonialism, whether the illegitimate capture of a sovereign nation or privileging a singular cultural bias in a digital environment, should be denounced and resisted.
The situation in Ukraine is a tragedy, and the courage demonstrated by Ukraine’s people and other innocent nationals caught up in this crisis is extraordinary. We have deep respect for people around the world who are standing up for their cultures and right of self governance. As an organization focused on information resources and the stewardship of cultural memory, we commit to harnessing our expertise and networks in solidarity with Ukraine and other communities under threat.
Resources to support the people of Ukraine:
Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Online (SUCHO): SUCHO is a group of cultural heritage professionals—librarians, archivists, researchers, programmers—working together to identify and archive at-risk sites, digital content, and data in Ukrainian cultural heritage institutions while the country is under attack. The site notes opportunities to volunteer and other evolving projects:
- Library of Congress: archiving websites from Ukraine and the Russian-annexed areas.
- Ivy Plus SEEES affinity group: adding endangered sites from the region (including Ukraine) to an IPLC digital collection called Eastern Europe and Former Soviet Union (on Internet Archive).
- UC Berkeley: documenting Ukraine Crisis 2022 on Archive-IT; it is a continuation of their Crimean Crisis Web Archive. Contact is Liladhar Pendse.
- Internet Archive Global Events: discussion is under way for a web archiving project on the war in Ukraine.
- Indiana University and American Folklore Society: backup and storage of files/content for folklore and ethnomusicology researchers in Ukraine
Ukrainian Library Association Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ula.org.ua
