Ukraine’s Librarians Coordinate Massive Internet Readiness Assessment

This spring, IREX Global Libraries - Ukraine staff and the Ukrainian Library Association (ULA) hosted a workshop in Kyiv to kick off a large-scale needs assessment of public libraries. This assessment is part of the planning phase of the Global Libraries program, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The purpose of the assessment is to gather data to assess Ukraine’s readiness to host comprehensive free public internet access in its libraries. Over 120 library professionals from all regions of Ukraine as well as IREX staff attended the workshop and began preparing for the assessment.

The assessment includes gathering basic information about the state of Ukraine’s public libraries, existing infrastructure and equipment, and the training and information needs of librarians and communities. The results of the assessment will inform a nationwide program implementation plan, which IREX is preparing over the coming months. The implementation plan will include recommendations for increasing public internet access throughout Ukraine as well as alternatives and obstacles to be presented this summer to The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The library systems in Ukraine’s 26 regions agreed to take part in the information-gathering exercise. The library directors who were present at the meetings decided to attempt to gather information from all of the country’s approximately 18,000 libraries, rather than rely on a sample. Responding to this impressive commitment, IREX staff modified the logistics plan and increased the budget for some of the administrative expenses associated with a larger-scale assessment.

Each of the 26 regional teams consists of five members: a regional library director to supervise the process, a methodologist from the library who has knowledge of data collection methods and analysis, an information technology specialist, a program coordinator, and an IREX staff member. The assessment teams sent out survey forms to all the libraries in each region and collated the replies. In addition, the teams visited 10 villages in each region to spot-check data, communicate with local governments and communities about the project, and conduct focus groups to determine the needs of each community that can be met by a public access internet project.

Initial challenges have been significant,  including the outlying nature of some of Ukraine’s libraries, with basic infrastructure and service issues, such as lack of telephone service and unreliable postal service, complicating the assessment. Despite these and other challenges, the regional teams’ preliminary reports indicated that nearly all the libraries in the country have provided data. In addition, a preliminary analysis of the data submitted so far indicates that roughly 10-20% of Ukraine's 18,000 libraries are ready to support public access internet now. Based on meetings with oblast government officials, the number is likely to increase as governments make additional investments in the library system in the expectation of matching funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. All of the data will be collected in Kyiv during the month of May, and a complete picture of Ukraine’s library system will be presented in late June after analysis.