Introduction to media and information literacy for the Russian children’s librarians

UNESCO IITE participated in the advanced training course for librarians, which was held under the programme “Children’s Librarian: New Competencies in the Modern Reality” by the Russian State Children’s Library. On 9 October 2020, Ms. Tatyana Murovana, Programme Specialist at UNESCO IITE, delivered the online lecture “Media and Information Literacy and Media Education in the Modern World” within the course.

The lecture was devoted to the introduction to media and information literacy, modern approaches to its understanding and the essence, UNESCO efforts to its promotion, critical thinking and tools for critical analysis of media texts. The lecture gained insight into the specifics of modern media and digital platforms, filter bubbles, echo camera, fake news and post-truth, as well as explored what impact AI technologies have on media space.

Ensuring a qualified and effective exchange of information with the outside world, media and information literacy is considered one of the key components of the “21st century literacy” and refers to the so-called “soft skills”. Meanwhile, this type of literacy is not developed purposefully within formal or informal education in Russia, which gives libraries the opportunity to fill this free and highly-demanded niche.

The lecture recording is accessible on the UNESCO IITE Youtube channel (in Russian).