On October 18, 2022 the Music Library Association became a sponsor of the Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Online (SUCHO) initiative with a donation of $1,000. Thanks to the generosity of the MLA, we have been able to use the donation toward a larger purchase of twenty Anker 535 PowerHouse power stations that will be distributed to cultural heritage institutions in Ukraine so they can continue to digitize and scan items from their collections even during recurring electrical outages.
Since its launch on March 1, 2022, SUCHO has brought together over 1,500 volunteers (including MLA and IAML members!) to create high-fidelity web archives of nearly 5,000 Ukrainian cultural heritage websites, amassing over 50 terabytes of data. These websites range from national archives to local museums, from 3D tours of churches to children’s art centers. The SUCHO initiative developed soon after MLA member Anna Kijas put out a call on Twitter inviting people to participate in a data rescue workshop focused on digitized music collections that were at risk following the invasion of Ukraine. We were able to web archive music-related content from a variety of institutions such as the National Folk Decorative Art Museum, whose website is no longer fully accessible, and the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine.
Since late summer, the SUCHO initiative has been working with European organizations to facilitate delivery of digitization equipment directly to Ukrainian institutions who need it so they can digitize their materials. As noted by President of the Ukrainian Library Association Oksana Brui in a recent UNESCO meeting, only about 0.6% of the cultural heritage documents in the State Archives have been digitized to date. These institutions have more than 36 million documents of cultural heritage. Thus far we have received requests from 22 institutions, including the Scientific-Research Laboratory Lviv National Music Academy, asking for a variety of equipment, hardware and software, including book cradle and flatbed scanners, computers, and cameras that will allow these institutions to digitize their valuable cultural heritage collections during the war.
We ask that you consider joining these sponsors and donate to the SUCHO equipment fund so that we can continue supporting the urgent need of Ukrainian institutions in digitizing their cultural heritage during the war.
Submitted by Anna Kijas