Raben Ukraine put first books on the bookcrossing shelf

A special shelf – a metal platform – is located near the Central District Library named after Oles Honchar in the village of Kozelshchyna, Poltava region, and is one of the points of the World Bookcrossing Network. The project was implemented by the Smart Foundation with the aim of promoting reading, shaping the trend of book exchange and increasing the level of social responsibility of local residents.

“The whole team of Raben Ukraine – People With Drive – are real bookworms. We have our own library, which we fill with the books we read. Bookcrossing within the company has long been a commonplace. We decided not to stop there. Having heard about a wonderful initiative of the Smart Foundation we immediately initiated collection of books. The plan is to continue to transfer books that we have already read” – comments Inna Ocheretna, CEO of Raben Ukraine.

Inside the bookcrossing metal platform there is a dehumidifier, bookcrossing stickers with which you can mark the book registered on the site, and instructions on how to register books on the site of the World Bookcrossing Library. Locals have also introduced a so-called “living chain” in the transfer of books and cooperated to pass them from hand to hand. Although books have bypassed the bookcrossing point for some time, they have helped people communicate and share bestsellers.

In March 2020, due to the introduction of measures and restrictions related to the spread of coronavirus, the bookcrossing shelf went into “quarantine” mode. At this time, the intensity of book exchange has decreased slightly, but bookcrossers often came and continue to come to the platform, using personal protective equipment: masks and antiseptics.

“For the Smart Foundation team, the bookcrossing initiative is the first step towards greater change in the community and the region. For us, it was a kind of “social experiment” that showed that people are ready for such innovations, ready to share books, eager to enjoy the benefits of book exchange, which helps them not only in self-development, but also creates a sense of collective responsibility and trust”– says Nataliia Baryshpolska, director of Smart Foundation.

Just to remind, the first bookcrossing point of the World Bookcrossing Library – was established in Kozelshchyna on January 10, 2020. Bookcrossing is the World’s Library. Here, the book is assigned a unique identifier that allows you to observe how the book travels from hand to hand. In this way, the project unites readers from all over the world. According to bookcrossing.com, there are 1,964,672 bookcrossers and 13,161,243 books traveling to different countries.

Raben Ukraine has been working on the logistics market since 2003. It offers a full range of logistic services for contract logistics, international and domestic transportation as well as sea and air freight services. The company has about 500 employees. It also has about 70 000m² of warehouse space (including regions) and about 600 vehicles at own disposal.

Smart Foundation is a charitable organization that implements projects to promote education and self-development of residents of small towns and villages of Ukraine. In particular, in September 2020 in Kozelshchyna, Poltava region, the old rural two-storey library was transformed into a modern public cultural and educational Smart Space with a hall for educational lectures and movie screenings, a reading room with Ukrainian and world bestsellers, built-in audio listening systems. It already hosts cultural and educational events for all ages. All space services are provided to citizens free of charge. Smart Foundation was founded in 2018.