Architects of Their Community: How Library Leaders Shaped the Future of the League Together

What will the League of Women Library Leaders look like? What brings its members together, what values will guide their relationships, and what responsibilities is each of them ready to take on?

These were the questions explored by participants during a two-day strategic planning session in Kyiv. They worked together to design the architecture of their community: defining its values, principles, and rules of engagement; shaping a shared vision for collaboration; and drafting and signing the League Members’ Declaration.

“A community cannot be built by its organisers alone — it is the members themselves who create it. That is why it was important to us that library leaders become the architects of the League: defining what brings them together, how they want to interact, and what responsibilities they are ready to take on,” says Tamara Sukhenko, the originator of the League of Women Library Leaders and co-founder of the Library Country Charitable Foundation.

The session brought together representatives of libraries from different regions of Ukraine, including state libraries, libraries serving rural communities, and relocated institutions. Each participant brought her own experience, challenges, and hopes. Working together helped them identify what they have in common, how they can support one another, and what they can change together.

A particularly meaningful moment was the signing of the Declaration — a ritual marking a conscious transition from associate participant to full member of the community. At the end of the session, each participant read her own declaration aloud, expressing what the League’s mission meant to her personally. This gave shared values a personal meaning and made membership an expression of mutual commitment. These agreements lay the foundation for a community that will continue to grow beyond the end of the project.

Guest speakers also made an important contribution to the session. Their presentations helped participants reflect on their leadership in a broader context, from personal visibility and influence to community development and systemic change.

Nadiia Omelchenko, a Ukrainian entrepreneur and Director of pre-MBA programmes at the MIM Business School, spoke about women’s leadership, its challenges, and its opportunities. Drawing on her own experience, she shared practical tools to help women increase their visibility and overcome the “glass ceiling” that limits their professional growth.

Oleksandr Starodubtsev, Head of the Capacity programme at the Mnózhyna Foundation and co-creator of Prozorro, invited participants to see the library as a formative environment for the community — a space where people grow through shared inquiry, dialogue, reflection, and action. Such an environment helps people develop as citizens of Ukraine who understand their connection to their community and their ability to shape its future. Libraries can preserve and explore local memory, host conversations about the community, and bring together small groups where initiatives emerge and collective action takes shape.

Tetiana Nahorniak, Dean of the Kyiv-Mohyla School of Professional and Continuing Education, Doctor of Political Science and Professor, delivered a presentation entitled “Transformational Leadership in the Architecture of Systems.” She invited participants to rethink the role of a library director: how to work with new ideas, bring a team together around them, and become an architect of change. The discussion centred on transformational leadership — the ability to move beyond the existing system and design a new one, even in the face of resistance.

Alongside developing shared agreements, participants were also doing something essential to any community: building relationships. Working together gave them an opportunity to get to know one another better, discover common ground, and experience the support of their peers.

The cultural programme offered another opportunity to connect, with visits to Kyiv bookshops Sens and Book.ua. Themed tours allowed participants to experience these spaces as visitors, explore different ways of presenting books and engaging readers, and gather ideas they could bring back to their own libraries. They also had time to talk outside the formal programme, share impressions, and exchange ideas.

The session was facilitated, giving participants the opportunity to express their own perspectives, hear different viewpoints, discuss disagreements, and develop decisions about the League’s future together. The strategic planning session was facilitated by Anna Valensa, a facilitator and Candidate of Philosophical Sciences.

The programme is now underway. More online and in-person gatherings lie ahead, along with intensive learning, meetings with mentors, and plenty of hands-on work.

The League of Women Library Leaders programme is implemented by the Library Country Charitable Foundation with the support of the Mnózhyna Foundation.