Educational libraries as hubs of psychological resilience and social cohesion in crisis conditions

Abstract

The article examines the paradigmatic transformation of educational libraries in Ukraine amidst the full-scale Russian aggression and profound socio-cultural crises. It is proven that libraries have definitively overcome the stereotype of passive information-storage facilities, reorganizing their functionality into multifunctional institutional hubs of national resilience. Based on the analysis of domestic and international experience, five priority vectors of library activities during wartime are identified and systematized: security-spatial, psychosocial, cognitive-informational, digital, and socio-humanitarian. The content of the security-spatial vector is revealed as ensuring physical protection, infrastructural adaptation, and the preservation of cultural heritage as an act of resistance. Psychosocial practices, including bibliotherapy, support for internally displaced persons, and psychological resilience training, aimed at minimizing the traumatic impact of the war on educational participants, are characterized. The role of libraries as a reliable institutional barrier against hostile disinformation through media literacy and fact-checking, as well as digital hubs ensuring educational continuity via service virtualization and repository administration, is substantiated. Furthermore, it is proven that the socio-humanitarian function has transformed libraries into drivers of community cohesion, actively promoting linguistic-cultural unity and volunteer mobilization. The scientific novelty lies in the systemic substantiation of the library's role as an institutional shock absorber of social crises and an active subject of the state's information-cognitive security. Prospects for further research regarding the regulatory and methodological support of new library functions for the post-war reconstruction of the educational space are outlined.