All-Ukrainian Library Day (30/09)

All-Ukrainian Library Day (Ukrainian). All-Ukrainian Library Day is celebrated on September 30 in accordance with Decree of the President of Ukraine № 471/98 of May 14, 1998, taking into account the great contribution of Ukrainian libraries to the development of national education, science and culture, the need to further increase their role in the life of society and supporting the initiative of the library community.

The first libraries in Kievan Rus began to open at churches and monasteries after the adoption of Christianity in 988. The largest and richest at that time was the library of Sophia of Kyiv, founded in 1037 by Yaroslav the Wise. In total, the library contained up to 900 volumes of handwritten books — a huge number for the Middle Ages.

The books that came out of the workshops of St. Sophia Cathedral became the basis of other libraries, in particular the huge library of the Pechersky Monastery, which since the end of the 11th century has become the largest center of cultural life in Kievan Rus.

During the Mongol-Tatar invasion, books died in wars and fires. Since then, only a few copies of Sofia's library have survived. The most famous: the Rhine Gospel (which Yaroslav the Wise’s daughter Anna took to France from Kyiv. On this book the French kings took an oath, and currently the presidents of France take an oath), the Ostromir Gospel (1056—1057), two Izborniks of 1073 and 1076, the Mstislav Gospel of the 12th century.

In Western Ukraine, the active library movement begins with the creation of the Galicia-Volyn principality (from approximately the 13th century). At the court of Prince Vladimir Vasilkovich — scribe and philosopher — there was a huge book workshop.

With the advent of printing in the mid-15th century, great changes are taking place in the whole of European book publishing and, of course, librarianship. The libraries acquired significant development in the 16th century; large book depositories appeared at schools in Ostrog and Lvov. In the 17th century, the library of the Kyiv Academy was organized. In the 18th century, significant libraries had wealthy noble families, Cossack elders, bishops, monasteries, and various schools.

In the second half of the 19th — at the beginning of the 20th century, a network of cultural and educational cells «Prosvita» operated in Western Ukraine, which at that time was part of Austria-Hungary. Already in 1914, this society had 78 branches and 2,944 reading rooms throughout the region. In 1914, 75% of Ukrainian settlements in Galicia had their own reading rooms; in 1939, 85% of Western Ukrainian lands were covered by the network of branches and reading rooms «Prosviti».

In Soviet times, librarianship became part of state policy.

Today there are about 40 thousand libraries in Ukraine. Among the presenters are the National Library of Ukraine, the National Parliamentary Library of Ukraine, the State Library of Ukraine for Children, the State Historical Library of Ukraine and others.

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