The Regional Scientific Library in Mykolaiv lacks the funds to buy new books: this year it received ₴250 thousand

The Mykolaiv Scientific Library lacks the funds to purchase new books. Illustrative photo from the library’s page

The Mykolaiv Regional Universal Scientific Library lacks the funds to replenish its collections with modern books and periodicals. This year, it received 250,000 hryvnias to replenish its book collection. Contracts for supplies are currently being drawn up.

This was revealed during a meeting of the Mykolaiv Regional Council’s Committee on Science, Education, Culture, Youth and Sport, according to NikVesti.

The library’s director, Viktoriia Aharkova, noted that one of the library’s problems, which it is unable to resolve on its own, remains the lack of a budget to replenish its collections. Where grant or charitable projects do exist, they mainly concern fiction.

«We have had no funding since 2020. So, yes, we work with grants, we work with publishers and charitable foundations, and we organise book drives, but what we receive, unfortunately, does not meet the needs of our users, because we are a research library—the only one in the region. And the type of publications we include in our collection are academic and popular science works. What we receive is usually children’s fiction. Yes, we do receive it and, of course, pass it on to the region for affected libraries, but we are left with nothing ourselves. It’s a difficult situation,» said Viktoriia Aharkova.

As she noted, the library received 250,000 hryvnias this year to replenish its book collection and has already held a tender.

«Contracts are currently being finalised, and the books are already on their way to us. I very much hope this will be a first step, because how can a library function if it doesn’t have modern, new books?» added the library director.

Members of the committee recommended that funds be set aside for replenishing the library’s collection when drawing up next year’s regional budget.

It should be noted that the Minister of Culture, Tetiana Berezhna, reported that Russian attacks destroyed over 1.5 million Ukrainian books in July. Several publishing houses suffered damage to their production and storage facilities.

It should be recalled that in 2025, children’s libraries in Mykolaiv did not receive a single book purchased using funds from the city budget. All new additions to the collections were donated.

At the same time, adult libraries in Mykolaiv added 3,189 books to their collections. Over 80 per cent of these were received free of charge, whilst 596 copies were purchased using funds from the city budget.

It was previously reported that an inclusive space — the «Dotyk» centre for adapted access to information — had been opened at the Mykolaiv Regional Universal Scientific Library. People with visual impairments can use the typhlo-complex, which helps them listen to information, read it by enlarging the text on the screen, and print it in Braille.