A workshop on reading and media and information literacy was held in Moscow

On 4 September 2020, within the framework of the 33rd Moscow International Book Fair, a workshop “Promotion of reading and media and information literacy in Russia: goals, objectives, achievements, challenges and perspectives” was held in Biblio-Globus Trading House in Moscow. The event was organized by the Russian Committee of the UNESCO Information for All Program, the Interregional Library Cooperation Centre, the UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education, the Moscow State Pedagogical University and the Reading Association of Russia with the support of the Federal Agency for Press and Mass Media of the Russian Federation.

The event was held on-site and distantly and brought together over a hundred representatives of libraries, educational institutions, publishing houses, bookselling companies, the media, government agencies in the field of science, culture, education, communication and information.

The workshop was opened by welcome remarks from Mr. Boris Esenkin, President of Biblio-Globus Trading House, and Mr. Evgeny Kuzmin, Deputy Chair of the Intergovernmental Council and Chair of the Russian Committee of the UNESCO Information for All Program, President of the Interregional Library Cooperation Centre. The workshop was moderated by Mr. Sergey Bakeikin, Executive Director of the Interregional Library Cooperation Centre, Deputy Chair of the Russian Committee of the UNESCO Information for All Program, and Ms. Tatiana Murovana, Programme Specialist at UNESCO IITE.

A keynote speech on various aspects of promotion of reading was delivered by Mr. Evgeny Kuzmin, Deputy Chair of the Intergovernmental Council and Chair of the Russian Committee of the UNESCO Information for All Program, President of the Interregional Library Cooperation Centre. Ms. Natalya Borisenko, Leading Researcher at the Psychological Institute of the Russian Academy of Education, spoke about the issues of screen and paper reading, relying on data from the study of adolescent reading practices. Ms. Elena Romanicheva, Leading Researcher at the Laboratory of Sociocultural Educational Practices of the Institute of System Projects of the Moscow City University, addressed the challenges related to promotion of reading in the context of school education as well as the ways to overcome them. Ms. Tatyana Zhukova, Senior Researcher at the Institute for Strategy of Education Development of the Russian Academy of Education, President of the Association of School Librarians of the Russian World, made a presentation about the implementation of the project “Reading Mom. Reading School” and its role in improving the reading literacy of students.

Ms. Tatiana Murovana, Programme Specialist at UNESCO IITE, delivered a presentation on media and information literacy and emerging digital technologies. Ms. Irina Zhilavskaya, Head of the Department of Competence in Media Education of the Institute of Journalism, Communications and Media Education and Head of UNESCO Chair of Media and Information Literacy and Media Education of Citizens at the Moscow State Pedagogical University explored the issue of the development of media and information literacy. Ms. Natalya Lisovaya, Postgraduate Student of Pushkin State Russian Language Institute, assessed the prospects for the use of media and information literacy in the context of building a reading culture for children and adolescents. Ms. Irina Yeger, Teacher of Russian Language and Literature at Aton School (Elektrostal), spoke about the development of critical thinking through reading and writing.