NAMED NATIONAL FOUR-YEAR DAILY NEWSPAPER OF THE YEAR FOR 2020-21 IN THE COLLEGE MEDIA ASSOCIATION’S PINNACLE AWARDS
Thursday, March 2, 2023
Volume 160 No. 16 SERVING SAN JOSE STATE UNIVERSITY SINCE 1934
WWW.SJSUNEWS.COM/SPARTAN_DAILY
PHOTO COURTESY OF YAROSLAV MUDRIY NATIONAL LIBRARY OF UKRAINE
The library in Nikopol, Ukraine was destroyed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is one of several libraries which were destroyed during the war.
SJSU community reflects on effects of war in Ukraine Assistant professor works to preserve Ukrainian history and culture
Experts discuss consequences of Russian invasion of Ukraine
By Christine Tran
By Alina Ta
STAFF WRITER
STAFF WRITER
Ulia Gosart, San Jose State School of Information assistant professor, has been trying to preserve Ukrainian books by creating digital copies that are set to be put in a digital library in the near future. She said she is trying to develop the Nation Digital Library of Ukraine, the first Ukrainian digital library. Gosart said she prioritized her childhood library in Cherkasy, Ukraine and wanted to recover their collection by digitizing copies, which would otherwise be lost forever. She also said she hopes her project would assist in cultural preservation in Ukraine. “Libraries need books in all areas – children books, English language books – my colleagues and I hope to get books and money donations for Ukraine,” Gosart said. On Feb. 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, causing thousands of lives lost and about $97 billion of damage, according to a Sept. 11, 2022 New York Times article. “Just learning about the damage was really revealing, actually helped me personally to realize how significant libraries actually are for society,” Gosart said. “During wartime they might become targeted entities to be destroyed because of their role to support citizenry during the war.” Gosart said it is difficult for regions in Ukraine to get the resources and technology to create a digital library. “This is the future of the library field,” she said. “There are also some really specific questions – the regional catalog and organizing information for a digital library . . . it has to be uniform and it’s going to cost a lot to get everyone on the same page.” Anthony Chow, professor and director of SJSU’s School of Information, organized a GoFundMe page on behalf of Gosart. “My first priority as director is to ensure our tenure
A handful of guest speakers with expertise on the war in Ukraine came together to discuss how the war has affected the rest of the world from non-partisan perspectives on Wednesday at Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library. “We thought it was a good time to reflect on the implications of the conflict for the rest of the world,” said Karthika Sasikumar, SJSU political science professor and one of the speakers at the panel. Russian forces started a full-scale invasion into Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, according to a Friday New York Times article. About 300,000 people have been either killed or wounded in the war, according to the same New York Times article. At the panel discussion, each of the five speakers shared how the war is affecting not only Ukrainian and Russian citizens, but how it is affecting global politics.
LIBRARIES | Page 3
Students need to know about the war in Ukraine because a hot war breaking out between the United States and Russia, or the United States and China, would affect pretty much every citizen that lives on the globe. Raymand Buyco history lecturer
Drones and Weapons Roberto Gonzalez, chairman of SJSU’s anthropology department, said the war in Ukraine is not only on ground, but in the air as well. “There’s also another side to the conflict, a hypermodern battleground, where drones play a central role in surveillance, reconnaissance and combat missions,” Gonzalez said. He said both Ukraine and Russia have been unleashing modern weapons to fight the war, including using suicide or “kamikaze” drones. Gonzalez described how both countries are using Ukraine as “a real kind of testing ground for all of these various technologies.” PANEL | Page 3