The new owners received the books, published as part of The Day’s Library project, at the Volyn Regional Youth Library. The books went to all public and school libraries of the city. Director of the Volyn Regional Youth Library Maria Makh said: “We are delighted to receive the “Armor-Piercing Political Writing” series not only because these books will, no doubt, reach inquiring minds for whom they are written, nor we are glad just because the writers, whose journalistic heritage this esteemed newspaper published in the series, are part of the school curriculum, and now their scattered articles have been collected in a single series. Apart from all these obvious advantages, we see the series as a still more important gift because the youth library is the place where all teachers start their in-service training courses. We faced requests to make a photocopy of this or that article and refused them as we lacked the equipment capacity. Now, Ihor Palytsia’s New Lutsk Charity has presented the library not just with books, but with a powerful new copier, too. Therefore, we will be able to make such copies, and, moreover, email to our patrons who live throughout the region files of the articles that arouse their interest. For the time being, we will do it for free, covering the expenses from our own funds, so as to make, say, the “Armor-Piercing Political Writing” accessible to as many people as possible. We expect the educators to become the foremost consumers of this powerful high culture product.”
Actually, Lutsk school libraries received The Day’s publications before the “Armor-Piercing Political Writing” presentation. The city’s department of education purchased James Mace’s Your Dead Have Chosen Me…, while Palytsia’s New Lutsk Charity bought a batch of The Power of the Soft Sign books before. As confirmed by the school librarians present at the event, these publications do not lie idle on the shelves, but are read by the students as well as their teachers and parents.
Vice Rector of the Lesia Ukrainka East European National University and Deputy Board Chairman of the New Lutsk Charity Iryna Konstankevych served as the “Armor-Piercing Political Writing” presenter at the event. The charity’s founder is MP Palytsia, a native of Lutsk, alumnus of the city’s Gymnasium No. 18, and the current Supervisory Board Chairman of the Eastern European National University, while The Day’s editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna is an active member of the same body. Having majored in history at the university, Palytsia’s clear understanding and appreciation of The Day’s public education efforts prompted him to target school libraries in his drive to supply 30 sets of the series. After all, the issues raised by the best journalists of the past centuries are no less vital now, as we are still trying to sort out how to become competitive in today’s complex world and yet remain ourselves.
“Most importantly, even though we do, fortunately, study these authors as part of the school curriculum, their journalistic works were not republished before, but it is precisely their journalistic heritage that is crucial for understanding them,” says librarian of the Lutsk Gymnasium No. 18 Oksana Markina. “Such a publication is a great gift for us, and we will be forever grateful to The Day and its editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna, who understands well the needs of today’s education system and of our students who, if I may say so, will build Ukraine’s future. They must know these works. The publication has been splendidly made in its outward appearances, too. We have a few other The Day’s collections in our library, and they do get read. I have worked at the school library for 26 years and am sure that the ‘Armor-Piercing Political Writing’ series will also be in high demand.”
“Ihor Palytsia’s New Lutsk Charity always supports high culture products, such as the ‘Armor-Piercing Political Writing’ series that is being presented here,” Konstankevych says. “We want to partner with the newspaper, like the Lesia Ukrainka East European National University does already. It should be noted that we offer this unique series to libraries and do it at a library, because the library is a place for active people to gather, who read books, want to learn something new, to improve themselves, that is, the people who make up the city’s cultural milieu.”
