Reading for Global Peace and Harmony @ Your School Library

Abstract

In 2022, the year of its 45th anniversary, the IFLA School Libraries Section has fully endorsed the International School Library Month (https://iasl-online.org/ISLM), established and promoted by the IASL, to advocate for functioning school libraries, whose role is crucial in the students’ learning process and outcomes. A joint poster team was established (in collaboration with PPM and HUSK-IASL Europe), and a double poster was therefore designed to underline how a functioning school library can play a relevant educational role promoting and supporting reading to achieve global peace and harmony through its programme, that stimulates mutual knowledge, understanding, respect, and contributes to inclusion. Human rights, development, humanitarian support and peace are deeply interconnected. In a time (as the current one) of global crisis, challenges, conflicts and wars, the best tool for building peace is education. Reading and school libraries are beneficial to quality education for all and to develop an inclusive culture, as some projects on the ISLM 2022 theme (that are mentioned here as an example) show. Shared reading practices facilitate "Social connections across students of different classes, schools, cultures and countries." (Readtwinning, 2022). Highlights are provided from the IFLA School Library Guidelines (2015) and Manifesto (2021), and from: Transforming our world: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2015); Projects & Activities are mentioned: 1) International Virtual Storytelling; 2) Intercultural and Inter-religious dialogue (Cartonera); 3) Collaborating in Virtual Storytelling.