The role of Ukrainian zemstvos in the formation of their public library space

Abstract

This research into the participation of local self-government bodies in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries in the formation of Ukraine’s public library space is crucial given the need to study the factors that influenced the creation of Ukrainian book culture, national consciousness, and state-building. This study aims to characterise the role of Ukrainian zemstvo self-government bodies in the establishment of the Ukrainian public library space during the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The research methodology is based on the principles of scientific rigour, historicism, sociocultural and modernisation approaches, as well as general scientific (induction, logic, analysis, synthesis) and specifically historical methods: narrative, historical-genetic, and structural-functional analysis. The cultural and educational development of the Ukrainian village by zemstvos, a component of which was their public library work, from the 1860s until the fall of the Russian Empire, was a major direction of activity of these self-governing institutions, upon whose success the national progress of Ukrainians depended. In this sphere, the foundation was laid for the future public space of the Dnieper Ukraine. The establishment, at the expense of zemstvos and through their organisational efforts, of public libraries with broad, free access for all village residents, alongside the development of rural schools, was the alpha and omega of peasant Ukrainian life at that time. It shaped the region’s book culture and elevated the social activity of the largest social class. Thanks to the democratic zemstvo intelligentsia, during the revolution of 1905-1907, demands were made to increase the network of rural libraries, cooperation between zemstvos and Prosvitas expanded, and the Ukrainian printed word became more entrenched. The emergence of peasant republics in 1905, one of which was in Sumy, where peasants published a newspaper declaring the tsarist authority abolished, against the backdrop of zemstvo achievements in expanding the network of public libraries and education, demonstrated that the early 20th century marked an intensification of public library development in Ukrainian villages. This period also saw the maturation of the national consciousness among peasants and laid the groundwork for the Ukrainian Revolution of 1917-1921, a pivotal stage in Ukraine’s state-building efforts. The study of this topic will contribute to understanding the role of local self-government bodies in the functioning of Ukraine’s public library space under modern conditions, national identification among Ukrainians, and their consolidation in the face of hostile invasions