“Library Country - Ukraine” Foundation wins the Public Library Champion Award 2025 in the United Kingdom
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The organization Libraries Connected (United Kingdom) has awarded the charitable foundation “Library Country” the prestigious Public Library Champion Award 2025. This recognition highlights the organization’s contribution to ensuring public access to libraries and supporting their capacity to remain community pillars during wartime. The winners were announced during an official ceremony on June 10 in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, UK.
This award is presented to organizations that actively support public libraries, use their influence to draw attention to the vital role of libraries, and act as advocates at the national — and in this case, international — level.
Liusiena Shum, head of the “Library Country” Foundation, said:
“We are sincerely grateful to Libraries Connected for their support, trust, and partnership. This award is a recognition of the resilience and capacity to act in the most difficult times shown by the entire Ukrainian library community. It symbolizes our shared struggle for freedom, humanity, and knowledge. We deeply thank the British people for their support, solidarity, and belief in the power of culture.”
Today, as authoritarian regimes attempt to destroy culture as the foundation of freedom, support from Ukraine’s strategic partners — such as the United Kingdom — is vital. Libraries are institutions that preserve truth, memory, and human dignity. That is precisely why they become targets in wars against democracy.
Libraries Connected is a national network of public libraries across England, Wales, Northern Ireland, and British Overseas Territories, established in 1996. The organization supports libraries as spaces for development, community cohesion, education, and culture.
Website: https://www.
The “Sister Libraries” project is a program of international solidarity between libraries in Ukraine and the United Kingdom. So far, 45 library pairs have joined the initiative, collaborating in areas such as culture, education, environmental initiatives, and community support.
In 2025, as part of this cooperation, a mobile library (bibliobus) was gifted to Ukraine by Libraries Connected to serve communities in affected and liberated areas. It will soon begin visiting local communities.
