Public Library Services for Ukrainian Refugees in Hungary and Poland

This study investigates how public libraries in Hungary and Poland are responding to the influx of Ukrainian refugees. Both countries had a very limited intake of refugees during the humanitarian crisis in 2015-2016. However, because of the Ukraine-Russia war, and due to their shared borders with Ukraine, Hungary and Poland have become initial host countries for large numbers of Ukrainian refugees (UNHCR 2022). Most of the refugees from the Ukraine
are women and children and many are likely to stay in the countries for the foreseeable future (UNHCR Regional Bureau for Europe 2022). As public information and cultural institutions, how are libraries responding to the arrival of Ukrainian refugees in their communities? An emerging body of research indicates that public libraries can play important roles in the integration of refugees (Grossman et al. 2021; Johnston 2019; Johnston and Audunson 2019; Kosciejew 2019; Lloyd 2017; Pilerot 2018; Vårheim 2014, 2017; Witteveen 2016). Hungarian and Polish libraries with little refugee service experience have suddenly had to respond to an influx of users with very different needs from the domestic public. Insights from the field indicate that libraries in the two countries are rapidly developing their services to meet the urgent needs of the refugees and of their local communities as they grapple with the dramatic changes and
resulting challenges. How do they grapple with this situation?