Mobile Station ARK 1 Arrives in Odesa for Book Preservation

The Odesa National Scientific Library has received a new mobile station ARK 1, equipped with modern technology for cleaning, disinfection, drying, and restoration of books and documents. This initiative has been made possible thanks to funding from the ALIPH Foundation and the active support of the Ukrainian Library Association. This was reported by the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications. 

The first ARK 1 station arrived in Ukraine in January 2025. Its compact size (6 × 2.3 meters) allows for quick deployment without specialized equipment, and in case of power outages, it can operate on a generator.

From March to August, specialists processed over 350 documents, including about 200 books from the late 19th to early 20th century from university and research library collections, 30–35 newspaper archives from the Oleksandr Honchar Library of the Kherson Region, and over 70 archival documents and manuscripts from the National Bank of Ukraine named after Yaroslav the Wise, the National Historical Library of Ukraine, and the Scientific and Technical Library of KPI.

Now, Odesa, which possesses a unique cultural heritage and is constantly under threat of shelling, has a tool for rapid response to cases of damage to library and archival collections. Practical training and workshops for librarians in the city and the Odesa region on document preservation are planned for October. 

This initiative is being implemented jointly by the National Library of Ukraine named after Yaroslav the Wise, the National Library of the Czech Republic, the Czech ICOM Committee, and the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine. 

The project is carried out with financial support from the charitable foundation of the Komarek family and several international donors. In Ukraine, the National Library of Ukraine named after Yaroslav the Wise serves as the coordinator, with the Ukrainian Library Association as the strategic partner.