Some Useful Library Resources about Ukraine
by David Vassar, Reference Librarian, Quinn Library
The library offers a wealth of resources on Ukraine’s culture, literary, artistic, and religious traditions, geopolitics and history–including works illuminating this country’s long and often conflicted relationship with Russia.
The Library Catalog is your portal to practically everything Ukrainian, from literature and art to religion and history. Many of these titles delve into the historical relationship between Ukraine and Russia both before and after the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.
Quick detour: A snapshot of Ukrainians in NYC
Did you know? –There are over 150,000 Ukrainians in NYC, many residing in the East Village’s Little Ukraine, nestled between 6th and 7th Streets along 2nd Avenue. Here you’ll find Ukrainian cultural institutions, restaurants, expats and more.
A distinct landmark in this neighborhood is the Ukrainian Museum. Founded in 1976 by the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America, this cultural institution features a large collection of Ukrainian art and archival matter and presents regular gallery talks, concerts and film screenings as well as workshops in traditional folk art.
Another local fun fact: By the late 1970s South Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach had earned the nickname Little Odessa, having become home to burgeoning numbers of Soviet immigrants, mostly Ashkenazi Jews from Russia and Ukraine. Ukrainian immigrants have brought a rich religious life with them, a richness on display in the Saint George Ukrainian Catholic Church.
Some Additional Library Resources
Academic Databases are great resources that offer both academic and mainstream periodical literature on a galaxy of topical areas spanning many disciplines. Academic Search Complete, JStor and Scopus are all great resources for Ukrainian studies. Try searching also Political Science Complete for additional sources on Ukraine’s geopolitical ties with Russia, and Computer Science, offering publications on issues in information technology in Ukraine–including its cybersecurity challenges.
Online Newspapers bring full-text issues from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal. Both of these major dailies bring expansive coverage and analysis of events in the Ukraine and in Crimea more generally.
Additionally, Newspaper Source provides full coverage of articles of interest from more than 40 major U.S. and international newspapers. And, Ethnic News Watch provides accounts of immigrants and refugees from war-torn regions, most recently including ethnic Ukrainians forced to flee their homeland.
And that’s still not all: Check out some useful Library Research Guides:
- Political Science includes a page listing resources in international and comparative politics;
- Economics highlights relevant databases as well as independent organizations keying on global development.
- Human Rights highlights databases, selected books, and links to organizations concerned with the fundamental rights of people as global citizens.
- Cybersecurity features databases and officially vetted web-based sources on this crucial theme.
Videos & Multimedia One of the many unique productions you’ll find in Music Online: Smithsonian Global Sound is Ukrainian Songs: Duets and Solos with Olga Pavlova and George Bohachevsky.
This page is also your portal to many Ukrainian-themed films, ranging from feature length movies to short video clips. You can search and discover these in: Internet Movie Archive, Academic Videos Online (AVON), Library of Congress Webcasts & Videos, and Kanopy Streaming Videos.
And: Fordham Libraries also holds a bounteous collection of DVDs (Remember those?!), all searchable in our Catalog and ready for checkout! Here’s a notable example from 2006: Everything is Illuminated.
Open Access resources Finally, take note of these unique librarian-curated resources, including Govinfo, featuring the Congressional Record Daily Digest; as well as Country Watch, IMF eLibrary, Military Intelligence and The American Archive of Public Broadcasting (AAPB)–each of which, like our subscription-based databases, offers user-friendly advanced search modes enabling you to fine-tune your focus.
And as always, you can contact us for any needed assistance anytime!
