Each Wednesday at the Swampscott Public Library, the 5 p.m. story time alternates between Russian and Ukrainian stories and conversation, giving children and families a space to reconnect with their culture and practice their native tongue.
Three years ago, Iryna Smyrnova, the library’s world languages librarian, noticed the library held a significant collection of books in Russian, yet very few books in the library’s collection were written in Ukrainian. As a Ukrainian herself, Smyrnova knew the importance of preserving her first language, and she decided to make a change to support her community here in Swampscott.
“The dream was to create a Ukrainian collection, so moms could read to their children. And I wanted Ukrainian kids to continue to read in books and continue to keep their culture through the books. So, book by book, we created our Ukrainian collection.” Smyrnova said.
Inspired by the library’s growing collection and her own expertise with school-aged children, Smyrnova decided to start holding language-immersion story times.
For some, the occurrence of both a Russian storytime and a Ukrainian storytime can seem confusing, as the two countries are currently at war. However, according to Lisa Julien-Hayes, head of children’s services at the Swampscott Public Library, a majority of the Russian reading and speaking library users are actually Ukrainian. This is because they had to learn to read, write and speak in Russian in their childhoods when Ukraine was a part of the USSR.
“Russian patrons have been more welcoming and apologetic and very empathetic,” Julien-Hayes said. “It’s been really nice to see how welcoming all members of the community are.”
Smyrnova hosts the Russian and Ukrainian children’s story times, reading Ukrainian favorites like Ivan Malkovych one week and Russian authors like Oster Grigorii the next, providing Russian and Ukrainian families with a space to connect with their culture and meet others within their community.
In the second half of these meetings, Smyrnova likes to do arts and crafts projects related to Ukrainian culture, such as creating Pysanki eggs and symbolic sunflower crafts with the children.
For the librarians at the Swampscott Public Library, the purpose for these events is not just for the children to be able to connect with their heritage but to provide a safe space for their families.
“We’re always here for all members of the community, but especially our Ukrainian patrons who need support and Russian families who would like to continue with their Russian language,” Julien-Hayes said.
