By KYIV. May 25 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Head of the Ukrainian Book Institute Oleksandra Koval has said that there are 12,000 public libraries in Ukraine, of which only 3,000-4,000 are actively operating.
“There are now 12,000 public libraries in Ukraine. But it’s hard for me to tell you how many of these libraries are really active operating libraries that serve readers,” she said at the Reading for Democracy Polish-Ukrainian conference on Thursday.
According to Koval, around 500 libraries were either completely destroyed, partially damaged, or their collections were removed or destroyed by the Russian occupiers.
“Of these 12,000, maybe 3,000-4,000 are active and ready to serve readers,” she said.
Koval also said that libraries hold 160 million books, of which 52% were published before 1991.
She also said that almost no funds are allocated in Ukraine to replenish the book collections.
