International School Library Day has been celebrated in many countries annually on the fourth Monday of October, since 1999, at the initiative of UNESCO. Moreover, every year it is dedicated to a specific topic.
It was first proclaimed by the President of the International Association of School Librarianship (IASL), Blanche Woolles. In 2005, the official status of the holiday was confirmed by the new president of this organization, Peter Jenko.
In 2008, this event reached a new level — in January, project coordinator Rick Mulholland announced that International School Library Day was being transformed into month —, also international. In October of the same year, the first School Library Month was held under the motto «Literacy and learning — in your school library».
Participants of the action could choose any day during the month to hold events dedicated to school libraries. Some, however, did not limit themselves to one day or even a week, but announced long-term events — such as collecting books throughout the month.
It is important to remember that school plays an important role in introducing children to the book. But here we need the efforts of not only teachers, but also librarians. Moreover, the — school library is not only a repository of textbooks, today it is becoming a center of extracurricular and project activities, realizing the potential of an educational space where there is convenient and modern access to — knowledge to traditional printed books, an electronic fund of fiction and scientific literature.
In Russia, the International School Library Month was first held in 2008. Then its motto became the words «School library — on the agenda». That year, the foundation was laid for the traditional month program. It included congresses of school librarians, presentations of the profession «teacher-librarian», honoring veterans of librarianship, training seminars, numerous events for schoolchildren (competitions, conferences, exhibitions, book collections) and their parents and teachers.
These traditions of celebration continue today and are becoming increasingly widespread.
In addition to the international day and month of school libraries, Russian school librarians, along with all their colleagues, celebrate their professional holiday in the spring — All-Russian Library Day falls on May 27.
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