Sabre-Svitlo reaches milestone: distributes 500,000th book (05/09/99)

Sabre-Svitlo reaches milestone: distributes 500,000th book

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - The Sabre-Svitlo Foundation, a Lviv-based non-profit book donation organization founded in 1990, distributed its 500,000th book in Ukraine last year. In 1998 alone, the foundation distributed 51,405 books on a broad range of subjects to 1,162 institutions and individuals. Of the total number of books, 24.5 percent were in the field of education, including English language; another 22.8 percent were in the fields of business and economics; and 17.5 percent were related to the medical sciences.

For Sabre-Svitlo 1998 was a banner year in many other respects as well. In November, Sabre-Svitlo celebrated the opening of its new affiliate office at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. U.S. Ambassador Steven Pifer, in his address to the group, stressed the importance of Sabre-Svitlo's role "in fostering the development of a democratic society in Ukraine."

Since its inception, Sabre-Svitlo has worked closely with the United States Information Service (USIS) in Kyiv. Over the years, the United States Embassy and USIS have helped the foundation establish contacts with American philanthropic organizations. The U.S. government recently awarded Sabre-Svitlo a Democracy Grant for the distribution of 15,000 American books to educational institutions throughout Ukraine.

Sabre-Svitlo's cooperation with private organizations continued to grow in 1998 as well. Since 1990, the Sabre Foundation here has been Sabre-Svitlo's primary partner; Sabre not only provides a major part of the book donations, but also arranges for the collection and transportation of books donated by other organizations.

Another of Sabre-Svitlo's major partners is the International Renaissance Foundation (IRF) that began a project in 1998 to provide subscriptions of major Ukrainian periodicals to libraries and educational institutions in Ukraine. Another project initiated by IRF, "Project Pushkin," provided a total of about 30,000 Russian-language books to several libraries. Sabre-Svitlo selected recipients, processed orders, and developed special software to handle the project for IRF.

After the severe flooding in Zakarpattia last November, many libraries were completely destroyed. In response to the terrible losses, USIS, libraries around Ukraine, and other organizations donated books for the purpose of replacing the lost collections. Together, Sabre-Svitlo and the IRF coordinated the sorting of thousands of books and their transportation to Uzhhorod.

Sabre-Svitlo cooperated with other local and international organizations in 1998, among them the World Federation of Ukrainian Medical Associations, which purchased medical books for distribution to 61 libraries and research institutes; the Ukrainian State Committee on Nationalities and Migration, which donated 3,000 books and brochures for distribution to schools; and the International Research and Exchanges (IREX) Board, for whom Sabre-Svitlo distributed books to IREX Ukrainian partner organizations.

Also in 1998, Sabre-Svitlo helped many small libraries and institutions in Ukraine establish contacts in the United States and Canada for the purpose of obtaining specialized book collections. Over the course of the year, the foundation facilitated the delivery of 15,000 volumes to 26 institutes, including the Lviv Theological Academy, the Ukrainian Legal Foundation, ACCELS, the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Rohatyn Gymnasium, the Institute of Ukrainian Studies, the Institute of Oriental Studies and the Institute of Archeography.

One of Sabre-Svitlo's main objectives is to make donated books available to as wide a readership as possible. For this reason, the primary recipients of the foundation's book donations are public libraries and universities. To widen their contacts with libraries throughout Ukraine and to stay informed about libraries' current needs, Sabre-Svitlo representatives participated in two library conferences in 1998: the "Crimea '98" International Librarians' Conference in Sudak, and the Congress of the Ukrainian Library Association (ULA) in Kyiv. At the congress Sabre-Svitlo Director Olha V. Isaievych was elected to the ULA board.

To spread the word about its mission and services, Sabre-Svitlo participated in more than 20 conferences and workshops in 1998 on topics related to education, publishing, medicine and the Internet.

Throughout the year, visitors came to Sabre-Svitlo to discuss the possibility of starting new projects or to oversee projects already under way. Among the visitors were Tania Vitvitsky, project director of the Sabre Foundation, and many prominent representatives of the Ukrainian diaspora, including Roman Procyk, executive director of the Ukrainian Studies Fund; Dr. Marta Bohachevsky-Chomiak, vice president of the Ukrainian National Women's League of America; Dr. Paul Djul, president of the World Federation of Ukrainian Medical Associations; and Colonel Arkadi Mulak-Yatskivsky, President of the California Committee to Aid Ukraine.

The Ukrainian national media focused significant attention on Sabre-Svitlo's activities in 1998. Several television reports about the foundation were broadcast in Kyiv and Lviv, and articles about it appeared in Ukrainska Kultura, Krytyka, Medychni Visti, Express, Ukrainske Slovo, Ukrainskyi Shliakh and other publications.

To request a copy of Sabre-Svitlo's annual report for 1998 (in English), contact the Sabre Foundation at (617) 868-3510 or via e-mail at sabre@sabre.org. To reach Sabre-Svitlo directly, contact Olha Isaievych, at the following address: Sabre-Svitlo, 4 Kozelnytska, 290008 Lviv, Ukraine; e-mail: postmaster@sahre.lviv.ua; tel/fax, 380-322-427442.

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