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Author:
Regina Frackowiak, Reference Specialist, Latin American, Caribbean and European Division
Note: This guide is adapted from an earlier version, which appeared on the European Reading Room website.
Created: April 12, 2024
Last Updated: April 12, 2024
The Independent Press of Ukraine 1988-1992 is a list of independently-published serials in Ukraine and also those appearing in the Ukrainian language in Poland, the former Czechoslovakia and the NIS countries. While it is called a union list, it encompasses only publications collected by the Library of Congress, the Vernadsky National Library of the National Academy of Ukraine, the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, and two private research centers in the United States: Prolog (Research Corporation) and Smoloskyp (The Ukrainian Information Service). The list covers the period from early 1988 to the end of December 1992, but also includes some earlier imprints, e.g., "Ukraïns'ky visnyk."
During 1988-91, the period of Soviet demise, the Ukrainian independent press was in the forefront of the Ukrainian independence movement and a promoter of democracy in Ukraine. The rise of this independent press was testimony that a normal society can develop despite decades of adverse conditions.
The range of the independent publications also testifies to the degree of pluralism found among the Ukrainian population. The population's rejection of chauvinism, hostility towards ethnic minorities, and authoritarian nationalism in favor of evolutionary solutions to their problems, coupled with the introduction of a Western-style parliamentary and multi-party democracy, is equally borne out in the independent press. Many of the publications in this list are sponsored by various political, social, youth, or religious organizations, and are published for a specific purpose--to advance a political, social, or religious goals or to promote certain specific ideas.
Each entry gives as much bibliographic information as was available to the compiler for the collection at the Library of Congress. This information includes title, number of issues, beginning and ending dates of publication (if discontinued), frequency (if available), motto, place of publication, publisher, address, telephone number(s), editors, and language if other than Ukrainian. All titles in this catalog were examined de visu and the bibliographic information and annotations were prepared accordingly only for titles in the Library of Congress collections. For publications from other institutions, their listings and holdings were accepted and entered into the catalog as reported. Finally, we added also to this catalog titles found in Neuriadova presa Ukraïny (Kyïv, 1991), Aleksandr Suetnov, Samizdat : bibliograficheski ukazatel' (Moskva, Aprel' 1992) and Moskovskie kollektsii Samizdata, Spravochnik (Moskva, 1992).
All entries are transliterated according to the ALA - Library of Congress Romanization Tables. Geographic names of locations on the territory of Ukraine are cited in accordance with the present system of the U.S. Board of Geographic Names and the original publication, using Library of Congress transliteration. A small number of titles in this list were not available to the compiler for examination in hard copy, and citations for them were obtained from secondary sources. They are listed in this compilation because of their potential use as sources of information on events and developments in Ukraine.
To assist users of this list we included indexes for personal names, places (cities of publication), publishers, and mottoes.
The present list was prepared under the auspices of the Library of Congress's European Division. Special gratitude is extended to Mr. David H. Kraus, Assistant Chief of the European Division, for his encouragement, valuable advice, and generous assistance to the project. The compiler also wishes to express special thanks to O. Onyshchenko, Director of Vernadsky National Library, Petro Sodol (Prolog), Osyp Zinkevych (Smoloskyp), and Ksenia Kiebuzynsky (HURI) for their contribution for this project. To the Head of the Newspaper Division at the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine, Ms. Tetiana Borysenko, many thanks for her diligent work and assistance in introducing the Library's collections for the preparation of this list. I am thankful to Stephen Cranton, Computer Specialist in the European Division, and Kenneth Nyirady, Reference Librarian and webmaster for the European Division, for their patience in formatting and editing the text. My special thanks go to Ms. Kateryna Konchakovs'ka for typing, rewriting, and creating a database maintained on ProCite 2.1 and edited in WordPerfect 8.
We hope that this list, a first attempt to collect and catalog the independent press of Ukraine, will serve as a useful guide to scholars and researchers with a special interest in Ukrainian national affairs.