Educational Book in Ukrainian Diaspora: History, Characteristics, Meaning

The study analyzed educational textbook publishings of Ukrainian diaspora from the fund of the Department of Foreign Ukrainica of the Book Science Institute of the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine as an organic constituent of Ukrainian book culture. The history of educational book in Ukrainian diaspora was explored, the causes, time and the place of occurrence as well as the types, authors and publishing houses were discovered. A general book description of educational literature, it's features, purposes, reading audience were submitted. The traditional and modern editions of educational books of Ukrainian diaspora were revealed. It assessed the role of educational book in preserving national identity of Ukrainian people and in their struggle for Ukrainian statehood. The problem-solving process has been initiated in recent years by such well-known researchers of the history of book culture as O. Hlushko, S. Hrypych, H. Kovalchuk, O. Pastushenko and others. On a foundation of their preceding scholarly writings in this study we focus on a scarcely explored part of a general problem to which the article is dedicated. The purpose of the study is to analyze and evaluate educational textbooks of Ukrainian diaspora, namely: the causes, time and place of occurrence, the types of educational publications, it's book characteristics, reading audience, significance in the life of the diaspora and Ukrainian mainland. The main informational basis for the study is the fund of the Department of Foreign Ukrainica of the Book Science Institute of the Vernadsky National Library of Ukraine (DFU BSI VNLU) which contains substantial portion of educational books issued beyond the bounds of Ukrainian mainland. Ukrainians for various reasons (economic, social, political, personal) had moved abroad. From the end the eighteenth century until today the population of our compatriots have been increasing largely in different countries of the world and hence they have been able to organize powerful cultural, educational, scientific centers and to establish book publishing industry which has ensured the preservation of national culture, identity and language in the diaspora and outside just as has affected the revival of national values in Ukrainian mainland.