In her statement Laurence Engel, president of the National Library of France (Bibliothèque nationale de France – BnF) emphasises that the entire staff of the BnF joins her in expressing its solidarity with the Ukrainian people and strongly condemns the Russian aggression on its territory.

Please find below a list of initiatives taken at BnF level:

A solidarity statement from the President of the BnF (available in French, English and Ukrainian)

Solidarity actions

• Sending preservation material to Ukraine via the ICOM (International Council of Museums)
• Welcoming Ukrainian professionals working in libraries as well as researchers to the BNF
• Proposing the possibility to store Ukrainian digital collections via the SUCHO initiative

Collecting all documents that relate to the conflict (flyers, posters…) via a national initiative

Using the legal deposit of the web to harvest websites related to the crisis

A series of cultural events using BnF collections in order to advocate for Ukrainian written heritage (all events will be hosted at the BnF)

• Presentation of the Anne de Kiev’s deed by a curator during a Facebook Live on 08 April 2022 
• A concert dedicated to Ukrainien composer Théodore Akimenko on 15 April 2022 
• A conference on Ukraine organised together with The Foundation for Strategic Research (Fondation pour la recherche stratégique) on 20 April 2022
• A masterclass with Ukrainian author and Nobel Prize winner Svetlana Alexievitch on 15 June 2022