L. Pidtserkovna Final Report

Final report of Lyuba Pidtserkovna,

Petro Jacyk Library Fellow at

the University of Toronto Library 2009

 

The Petro Jacyk Central and East European Resource Centre at the University of Toronto held a competition for a Ukrainian mid-level professional librarian to participate in a six-month cataloguing program of Ukrainian materials. I was fortunate to be chosen for the position, and began work on 2 February 2009. My principal task was to catalogue the extensive John Luczkiw Collection of Ukrainian Canadiana held by the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library. During the course of the fellowship, I catalogued approximately 850 items, and gained valuable experience in the cataloguing practices of a major North American academic library. One of the benefits of my work was the opportunity to visit other departments of the University Library, and to meet information professionals and academics working in Ukrainian cultural institutions in Toronto.  I also worked one day a week as a volunteer at the Ukrainian Canadian Documentation and Research Centre located in St. Vladimir Institute, Spadina Avenue. Besides my professional duties, I was able to participate in a large number of cultural and academic events, the details of which are described below. 

I have thoroughly enjoyed my stay in Canada. I have learned a great deal from my working experience and from my fellow professionals in the library world.  I am grateful to all the librarians for their patience and assistance, especially Ksenya Kiebuzinski for her constant kind support and encouragement. The experience I have gained will be of considerable value to my work at the Library of the Ukrainian Catholic University in L’viv, Ukraine.

 

DIARY OF EVENTS

Week 1:  2-8 February 2009

(2 Feb.)

My first day at Robarts Library, University of Toronto. Introduced to staff and departments of the Library. Acquired my UTL ID card. Submitted my travel expenses report to the financial department. Established a bank account.

(3 Feb.)

Orientation.  Tour of Robarts Library and its departments (from B2 to 14th floor). Given overview of sources of books (DSOs, firm orders, etc.), and details about procedures for donations of books.  Toured the Audio Visual Department; materials and workflow.

Viewed the Holodomor Exhibition [Famine in Ukraine 1932-33] at St. Vladimir Institute.

(4 Feb.)

Attended “Meet the new catalogue” [Endeca interface], a session organized for library staff by the Digital Services Librarian, ITS, University of Toronto Libraries.

Learned about the new version of the Library Catalogue [Endeca] (a quick start tip sheet for staff), and about research modifications for more efficient catalogue use. Introduced to the Fisher Library collections and to their workflow procedures. 

(5 Feb.)

Shown how to firm order books through book suppliers; overview of vendor records and Isearch (batch ISBN-derived catalogue records); review of approval plans and how to draw up a careful agreement between the library and vendor (establishing right to return books that are not required by the library; shown how to issue a tax receipt to a book donor.

Attended “Inventing the Truth: Telling Tales out of the Family: on Publicly Sharing – and Shaping – the Lives of (Your Closest) Others”. Lecture by Mr. Janice Kulyk-Keefer, Canadian novelist, and Professor of Literary and Theatre Studies, University of Guelph. 

(6 Feb.)

Instructed on the structure of the integrated library system (SIRSI) and the catalogue (how each new book receives a call number and special designation). At this point it is possible to return unwanted or duplicate books to a supplier. Created brief catalogue records for new Bulgarian books received on approval. Shown the protocol Z39.50, a convenient system which saves time for the creation of catalogue records. 

Informal lunch meeting and discussion with Ksenya Kiebuzinski and Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) staff: Frank Sysyn, Marko Stekh, Andrij Makuch, Thomas Prymak, and Roman Senkus.

Week 2:  9-15 February 2009

(9 Feb.). 

Created brief catalogue records for newly acquired Bulgarian books at Robarts Library.  Learned how to use the Sirsi Workflows integrated library system for cataloguing books.  Learned how coloured paper flyers with special location or processing designations can be very helpful and informative for maintaining workflow and sending material to different locations.

(10-11 Feb.)

Created new name authority files for selected items in the John Luczkiw Collection of Ukrainian Canadiana at the Fisher Library. Checked the form of names in many reference sources.

(12 Feb.)

Attended a presentation at the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto, by Myroslav Dedyshyn, Orest Dzyndra, and Serhij Kliapetura, members of a Ukrainian team of sculptors who won prizes at the international ice sculpture contest held in Quebec City’s Winter Festival 2009.

(14 Feb.)

Attended “Shliakhamy kobzariv” [“Along the paths of the kobzars”]: a kobzar concert by Taras Kompanichenko and Iurii Fedynskyi, at St Vladimir Institute.

Week 3:  16-21 February 2009

(20 Feb.)

Met with Christine Medycky, who I am assisting in organizing a course for religious sisters on educational leadership at the Ukrainian Catholic University in L’viv, 19-25 August 2009.

Attended the 8th Vladimir N. Mackiw Memorial Lecture “The Exceptional Work of the Aerospace Constructor Oleh Antonov as Part of Ukraine’s Contribution to World Aerospace Technology,” given by Ostap Hawaleshka at the Canadian Ukrainian Art Foundation. At the lecture I was introduced to Daria Darewych, President of the Shevchenko Scientific Society of Canada (NTSh) in Toronto.

(21 Feb.)

Attended the Tenth Youth Festival of Ukrainian Dance, Mississauga.  Met Luba Pendzey, retired long-serving Slavic cataloguer at the University of Toronto Library.

(22 Feb.)

Attended the Ed Burstynsky Memorial Lecture “Pride, Patriotism, Enlightenment and Entertainment: the Toronto Ukrainian People’s Home in the 1920s and 1930s,” at St. Vladimir Institute, held in cooperation with the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies.  Speakers: Andrij Makuch, Research Coordinator, CIUS Kule Ukrainian Canadian Studies Centre; and Maegon Young, Student, Trent University.

Week 4:  23 February-1 March 2009

(23 Feb.) 

Consulted with Andrij Makuch on the question of establishing name authorities in cataloguing Canadian authors of Ukrainian descent.

(24 Feb.)

Introduced to Dr. Iroida Wynnyckyj, and Volodymyra Luczkiw, widow of John Luczkiw, at the Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Centre (UCRDC), located in St. Vladimir Institute.

(25 Feb.)

Given tour of the Joseph Brabant Lewis Carroll and Italian collections at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library by Luba Frastacky, Cataloguer and Reference Librarian.

Week 5:  2-7 March 2009

(5  Mar.)

Attended screening of “The Living,” the first film in a series of feature documentaries by Serhiy Bukovsky on the Soviet Ukraine famine, 1932-33, at Innis College.

(6 Mar.)

Attended Holocaust in Ukraine: screening and panel discussion” of S. Bukovsky's documentary film “Spell your name” (2006), at Innis College. The film was produced by the USC Shoah Foundation Institute for Visual History and Education, in partnership with the Victor Pinchuk Foundation.

Attended an evening of Ukrainian literature (readings from the works of Lida Palij and Taras Prokhasko), organized by the Literary and Artistic Association “Slovo” at the Shevchenko Scientific Society of Canada in Toronto.

(7 Mar.)

Attended with Maria Budziakowska, UTL Derived Cataloguer for Polish, a performance by Toronto's Polish Theatre of the play “Usmiechi Lwowa” [“Smiles of L’viv”].

Week 6:  9-15 March 2009

(9 & 11 Mar.)

Easter recollections by Rev. Dr. Sevastian Dmytrukh, art expert from L’viv, Ukraine.

(10 Mar.) 

Attended lecture by Ksenya Kiebuzinski on "John Luczkiw Ukrainian Multicultural Collection"; Toronto Ukrainian Genealogy Group, Toronto.

(12 Mar.)

Visit to the Royal Ontario Museum, including the exhibition “Mysteries of Ancient Ukraine: The Remarkable Trypilian Culture (5400-2700 BC)."

(13 Mar.)

Lunch meeting with Ksenya Kiebuzinski and staff of CIUS: Frank Sysyn, Marko Stekh, Andrij Makuch, Roman Senkus, and Uliana Pasicznyk.

Viewed the film “The Battle of Chornobyl” by Igor Kostin (Corbis). The film was screened as part of the Anti-Nuclear Conference at the University of Toronto. Attended with Andreika Lukacko and Larissa Rozdzilski (Masters Students in Environmental Studies at York University).

Week 7:  16-21 March 2009

(16 Mar.)

Attended a lecture at the Ukrainian Cultural Centre at Christie Street on recent archaeological discoveries in Baturyn, Ukraine, the former Cossack-Hetman Capital, illustrated with slides and a video by Dr. Volodymyr Mezentsev, Visiting Professor, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, University of Toronto, and specialist in medieval and early modern Slavic and Byzantine history, archaeology, architecture and art.

(19 Mar.)

Attended the lecture “Historical Memory on WWII and UPA in Ukrainian Rock and Hip-Hop Music,” by Bohdan Klid (University of Alberta), sponsored by the Petro Jacyk Program for the Study of Ukraine, University of Toronto.

(20 Mar.)

Tour of the Kelly Library, St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto, by Noel McFerran, where I assisted Ksenya Kiebuzinski in selecting books from a collection of Ukrainian Canadiana that was part of the Multicultural History Society of Ontario.

Attended at NTSh the lecture “Taras Shevchenko and the Modern Ukrainian Literary Language,” by Michael Moser, Associate Professor, Institute of Slavic Studies, University of Vienna.

Week 8:  23-29 March 2009

(24 Mar.)

Attended a lecture on the role of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic clergy in the discovery, restoration, and protection of the cultural treasures of Ukraine, by Rev. Dr. Sevastian Dmytrukh.

(26  Mar.)

Compiled a list of books suitable for the collection of the Library of the Ukrainian Catholic University in L’viv.

(27 Mar.)

Met with Christine Curkowskyj, to acknowledge her generous donation of books on the Holodomor [Great Famine] to the Ukrainian Catholic University in L’viv.

Week 9:  30 March–3 April 2009

(1 Apr.)

Attended a lecture sponsored by the Friends of the Fisher Library by Professor J. Edward Chamberlain, University Professor of English and Comparative Literature, University of Toronto, on the English banker, politician, biologist and archaeologist Sir John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury.

(3 Apr.)

Attended at NTSh the lecture “Labour Migration as a Strategy of Informal Economy in Post-Communist Ukraine,” by Natalia Patsiurko (PhD Sociology, McGill University), who spent the 2008-2009 year at CERES as a Petro Jacyk Post-Doctoral Fellow in Ukrainian Politics, Culture, and Society.

(4 Apr.)

Viewed the film “A Kingdom Reborn”: Treasures from Ukrainian Galicia”, written by Peter Bejger, and directed and produced by Dani Stodilka, and screened at the Ukrainian Cultural Centre in Toronto.

Week 10:  5-7 April 2009

(7 Apr.)

Compiled a bibliography on the Soviet Ukraine famine of 1932-33 at the Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Centre. Compiled a list of books suitable for the collection of the Library of the Ukrainian Catholic University in L’viv.

Met with Volodymyra Luczkiw on the selection of additional books for the collection of Ukrainian Canadiana at the Fisher Library.

Week 11:  8-18 April 2009

Family visit to Vancouver:

(14 Apr.) 

Tour of Vancouver Public Library conducted by Diana Guinn, Director, Neighbourhood & Youth Services. Examined the collection of historical photographs in the Special Collections Department (www.vpl.ca/find/cat/C393/)

(15 Apr.)

Tour of Victoria.

(16 April)

Visit to Whistler.

Week 12: 20-26 April 2009

(21 Apr.)

Met with Janice Lavery, Department Head, Newcomer Services, at the Toronto Reference Library, who conducted a tour of the Toronto Reference Library, with emphasis on the Baldwin Room (Special Collections), as well as the Arthur Conan Doyle Collection. Also visited the TPL’s Digitizing Project and Restoration Laboratory.

(22 Apr.)

Tour of books of religious interest in the collections of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, with Pearce Carefoote, Cataloguer and Reference Librarian.

(26 Apr.)

Viewed the film “Mother and Stepmother” [in Ukrainian] at the Ukrainian Cultural Centre in Toronto.

Week 13:  27 April–3 May 2009

(27 Apr.)

Review of 2008 by Lada Darewych, Administrative Director, Ukrainian Catholic Education Foundation, Toronto. Followed by a lecture “Faith after Atheism: the Development of Religious Life in Contemporary Ukraine” at Ukrainian Canadian Art Foundation (KUMF) by Oleh Turii, Chair of the Department of Church History, Ukrainian Catholic University, L’viv.  Expression of gratitude was given to Dr. Maria Fisher-Slyzh, for her donations to the Ukrainian Catholic Education Foundation.

(28 Apr.)

Visit to Niagara Falls.

(1 May)

Attended the NTSh sponsored lecture “Ukraine 1991-2011: Between Feeble Authoritarianism and Ineffective Democracy,” [in Ukrainian] by Mykola Riabchuk, at the Ukrainian Canadian Art Foundation (KUMF).

(3 May)

Attended the opening of the exhibition: “Five Interpretations from Ukraine,” at the Ukrainian Canadian Art Foundation (KUMF).

Week 14:  4-10 May 2009

(5 May)

Attended the TRY Fifth Annual Library Staff Conference, Toronto: 1) “Current Open Access Library Support Services and Technology,” by Rea Devakos, Information Technology Services, Robarts Library, University of Toronto; and 2) “RE:search Library Research Modules,” by Sheril Hook, Coordinator of Instruction Services, University of Toronto Mississauga Library; Sarah Fedko, Information Literacy Coordinator, University of Toronto Scarborough Library; and Jeff Newman, Coordinator, Instruction in Library Use, Robarts Library, University of Toronto.

(6 May)

Met with Brian Bertrand, Branch Head, Dufferin/St. Clair Branch, Toronto Public Library.

(8 May)

Attended a literary evening with Mykola Dubas and Hryhori Hrechan at Ukrainian Canadian Art Foundation (KUMF).

(10 May)

Visit to Ottawa for the Tulip Festival.

Week 15:  11-17 May 2009

(11 May)  

Lunch with meeting Marko Stekh, Frank Sysyn, Andrii Makukh, and Ksenya Kiebuzinski.

(12 May)

Voluntary work at Ukrainian Canadian Research and Documentation Centre at St. Vladimir Institute compiling an inventory of a collection of memoirs from the period 1920-1970.

(15 May)

Met with Prof. Martin Dimnik, Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, to talk about books of interest to the Library of the Ukrainian Catholic University in L’viv.

Attended at University College the Danylo Husar Struk Memorial Lecture: “Ukrainian Literary Populism Unveiled: the Question of Popular Literature,” by Dr. Tamara Hundorova, Institute of Literature, Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, under the auspices of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Toronto.

Week 16:  18-24 May 2009

(22-25 May)

Attended the Canadian Association of Slavists Annual Conference, at Carleton University, Ottawa:

(22 May)

"Songs Your Mother Should Never Have Taught You? Erotic Symbolism in Ukrainian Folk Songs" by Orysia Tracz (Winnipeg writer), sponsored by the Ukrainian Canadian Professional and Business Association of Toronto, and the Ukrainian Genealogy Group.

(23 May)

"Nationalism and Empire". Chair: R. Carter Elwood (Carleton University). 

Papers:

"Pan-Slavism and Geopolitics in the Russian Stance on Kosovo," Ben McVicker (University of Toronto).

"Twilight of Empire: The Preception of Ottoman Decline in Imperial Russia," Victor Taki (independent scholar, Montreal).

"Nationalizing Marxism: The National Question in the Debates of East Central European Socialists at the Turn of the 20th Century," Michal Kasprzak.

 

“Rural Initiatives: Ukrainian in Western Canada the Interwar Era”. Organizer: Olga Andrievski (Trent University). Chair: Roman Shaiyan (University of Alberta).  Discussant: Jars Balan (University of Alberta).

Papers:

"The Agrarian Politics of the Ukrainian-Canadian Left in the Interwar period," Andrij Makuch (Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies). 

"Reconstructing a Community: The Arran, Saskatchewan Project," Olga Andrievski (Trent University).

“Reconstructing a Community: The Arran, Saskatchewan Project (continued)," Maegon Young (Trent University).

(24 May)

“Canadian Association of Ukrainian Ethnology: Research in Progress”. Organizer: Radomir Bilash (University of Alberta). Chair: Peter Melnycky (Historic Sites and Museums, Province of Alberta). Discussant: Radomir Bilash (University of Alberta). 

Papers:

"St. Onuphrius Ukrainian Church, Canadian Museum for Civilisation - a Curatorial Retrospective," Steve Prystupa (retired museum curator, Manitoba).

"Perogies on the Prairies: From Peasant Ukraine to Mainstream Canada," Orysia Tracz (University of Manitoba Libraries).

 

“Text in Context: Ukrainian-Canadian Literature.” Organizer: Lindy Ledokhowski (University of Ottawa). Chair: Andrij Makuch, (Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies). 

Papers:

"Written on the Margins: Acrostics and Acropoems in Ukrainian Canadian Literature," Jars Balan (University of Alberta).

"English-Language Ukrainian Canadian Literature's Images of Victimization," Lindy Ledohowsky (University of Ottawa).

"Krat's Reception of Darwin's Theory of Evolution," Walter Smyrniw (Emeritus, McMaster University).

 Week 17:  25-31 May 2009

 (25 May)

 Talk at Carleton University by Irene Szkudlarek, a senior librarian with the acquisitions section at Library and Archives Canada, about the national archives.

 

“Canadian Association of Ukrainian Ethnology: Research in Progress”. Organizer: Radomir Bilash (University of Alberta). Chair: Mykhailo Khomenko (Embassy of Ukraine). Discussant: Steve Prystupa (retired museum curator, Manitoba). 

Papers:

“One-Room School to Parliament: The Teaching Career of Michael Luchkovich, M.P.," Gordon Yaremchuk (Friends of the Ukrainian Village Society, Alberta).

"Food, Shelter, Adaptation and Change: A Case Study of Ukrainian-Canadian Barns and Granaries in Smoky Lake County, Alberta," Michal Mlynarz (Friends of the Ukrainian Village Society, Alberta).

"Two-Storey Ukrainian-Canadian Homes in East-Central Alberta: Development of a Tradition". Vita Holoborodko, (Independent Scholar).

 

Visits to the Museum of Civilisation, Notre Dame, Parliament, and sight-seeing tour of the city.

Week 18:  1-7 June 2009

Consulted via e-mail with Dr. Yurii Yasinovskyi, specialist in early printing, Ukrainian Catholic University in L’viv, on two old Russian manuscript books, written in “kriukovyi” script, held by the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library. The information was passed on to the Fisher Library’s cataloguers.

Corresponded with Roman Vaskiv, Director, School of Ukrainian Language and Culture, Ukrainian Catholic University in L’viv, about the organization, with Christine Medycky, of a course for religious sisters on educational leadership at the University, 19-25 August 2009.

Week 19:  8-13 June 2009

(8 June)

Examined books of special interest among the holdings of the Thomas Fisher Rare Books Library with Philip Oldfield, Cataloguer and Reference Librarian, including the oldest item in the Library (a cuneiform Babylonian clay tablet dating from 1789 B.C.), the largest (a set of volumes on the antiquities of Egypt commissioned by Napoleon), the smallest (a minute volume of Galileo Galilei’s Letter to Madame Cristina, printed in 1896). Other items seen included a number of manuscripts and early printed books (the first complete Bible; a copy of the Catholicon printed by Gutenberg (ca. 1460); the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493); a sixteenth-century medical broadsheet with movable flaps).  Other notable books were a first edition of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species (1859); a volume of Voltaire, hollowed out to conceal items within; a book with a double fore-edge painting, visible when fanned out.

Week 20:  15-20 June 2009

(15 June)

Viewed the film “The English Surgeon” a full length documentary film, by Geoffrey Smith, that tells the story of Dr. Henry Marsh, a British neurosurgeon who travels to post-Communist Ukraine to help its stressed and overwhelmed medical system.

(18 June)

Attended the opening of the exhibition “Calvin and the Book”, Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto.

Attended the Ed Burstynsky Memorial Lecture “California Dreaming: Fr. Ahapii Honcharenko’s Role in the Formation of the Pioneer Ukrainian-Canadian Intelligentsia,” by Jars Balan, CIUS, University of Alberta, held at St. Vladimir Institute.

(19 June)

Attended the NTSh lecture “The One-Hundredth Anniversary of the Birth of Bohdan Ihor Antonych (1909-1937),” by Marko R. Stech at the Ukrainian Canadian Art Foundation (KUMF).

Week 21: 22-27 June 2009

(22 June)

Corresponded with the Director of the Library of the Ukrainian Catholic University (UCU) in L’viv about books published by the Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies (PIMS), required for the library’s collections. Corresponded with Angela Macaloney of the Publications Department of PIMS.  Purchased books requested for UCU books and dispatched them to Ukraine.

(24 June)

Visited the Osborne Collection of Early Childrens’ Books, Toronto Public Library (239 College Street), that covers the development of English children’s literature from the 14th century up to 1910-the end of the Edwardian era.

(26 June)

Selected from duplicate titles at Robarts Library’s Gifts Section, books of interest to the Library of the Ukrainian Catholic University in L’viv.

(29 June)

Final day of work.

(30 June)

Visited the Royal Ontario Museum to see the exhibition on the Dead Sea scrolls.

Evening departure to Ukraine.