BUEL proposes a sound, sustainable and effective way to circulate Ukrainian books through digital transfer and, if the case, local print-on demand activities. Details of the proposal are in the attached document. The partners identified in the proposal – UPBA (Ukrainian Publishers and Bookseller Association) and NBD Biblion (the Dutch (e-)book supplier) – have already shown interest in this initiative.

 BUEL

Books from Ukraine to Europe through Libraries

Rationale

 The war in Ukraine will not come to an end anytime soon; it will take months, even years, before the Ukrainian migrants will be able to flow back to Ukraine. The educational and cultural needs of Ukrainian children and adult migrants are now only very partially met through book acquisitions provided by local agencies and/or donors through their local networks. Apart from the difficulty of transporting books in a country devastated by war, increased investment with this modality of distribution, results in expensive and ineffective book distribution.

BUEL is proposing the creation of a sound, sustainable and effective way to circulate Ukrainian books among refugees. The circulation process would go through the following steps:

 

1. Ukrainian publishers send the digital files of their publications to one or more agencies located in the countries where migrant communities have settled;
2. This or these agencies clear copyright royalties and make financial arrangements with individual libraries or library networks for the distribution of Ukrainian content;
3. Library networks or individual libraries distribute these files in digital format or through print-on-demand facilities to migrant communities settled in the communities they serve;
4. Donors/local agencies fund book acquisition according to BUEL modalities and do not bother themselves with book distribution and communication.

The implementation of this distribution process requires careful preparation and coordination. This project could ideally be proposed within an Interreg framework.

 BUEL objectives

 Meet, at least partially, the educational and cultural needs of Ukrainian migrants through an offer of books in their native language;

• Build up a sound, effective and sustainable circulation of books in the Ukrainian language to be transferred to Ukrainian migrant communities;
• Networking libraries that are now engaged in support to Ukrainian migrants and supply them with a permanent supply of Ukrainian literature. 

 

Partnerships

 BUEL implementation may be entrusted with the following partners:

Coordinator : EBLIDA (European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations)

EBLIDA, general coordinator of the project, takes responsibility for making contact among partners and guarantees that copyright requirements are cleared to no detriment of the Ukrainian publishers; EBLIDA provides for project internationalisation and extension to as many European countries as possible; disseminates results in the library’s professional environment.

Partner 1: UPBA (Ukrainian Publishers and Bookseller Association)

UPBA ensures the coordination of the project in Ukraine, creates awareness on BUEL among interested Ukrainian publishers, provides support to them for the transmission of files to the agency(ies) and translates documents, in particular legal and financial, into Ukrainian.

 Partner 2: NBD Biblion (if the case, a local agency)

Being the major book and e-book supplier to libraries in the Netherlands, NBD Biblion sets BUEL legal requirements, including copyright royalties, and the financial conditions of the licenses adapting Dutch licenses to national context. Alternatively, a national agency can be the interlocutor.

Partner 3: National Library Network / Association

The National Library Network / Association creates awareness on BUEL among interested libraries, provide support to them for the transmission of files to the agency(ies), translate legal and financial documents into the national language.

Possible Additional Partner 4: NLS (National Library of Sweden)

Book distribution to migrants is no ordinary business for libraries and requires careful organisational and psychological preparation in order to avoid failures. Based on the Swedish experience with Syrians, NLS trains librarians on setting BUEL’s appropriate organisational and human framework.