Epistolary of P. Kulish on the Websites of the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to study and characterise the available sources and projects of digitisation and virtualisation of P. Kulish’s epistolary heritage on the websites of the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine (hereinafter – VNLU) to preserve the historical and cultural heritage of Ukraine. Research methods. The work uses a set of scientific methods based on an interdisciplinary approach, which includes analytical (for analysing electronic resources and the Internet), historical (for tracing the process of digitising P. Kulish’s manuscript heritage), information and library science aspects. Scientific novelty. Kulish studies (a scientific discipline that studies the life and work of P. Kulish) are widely represented and introduced into scientific and information circulation thanks to the electronic resources of the VNLU. The electronic resources are filled with the digitized documentary heritage of P. Kulish: a small part of his epistolary works, fiction and scientific works, photographic documents, and VNLU reference books, which contain information about the funds where the writer’s paper documents are stored. The created digital objects of P. Kulish’s epistolary works are an integral part of the digital cultural heritage. Conclusions. P. Kulish’s epistolary heritage is not digitised to the full extent to which it is presented in paper form and requires an urgent digitisation process. Ukrainian society is deprived of the opportunity to freely use the national heritage in the form of P. Kulish’s epistolary heritage, which is a historical source and generally identifies Ukrainians as an original nation with an authentic cultural heritage. Today, the formation of an informative electronic environment aimed at highlighting national achievements is the main strategic task for the development of not only the leading library institutions of Ukraine but also public policy in general.