Special Reading Initiatives
It has become a tradition throughout the country to conduct the One Country—One Book campaign every year, which deservedly enjoys great popularity. The campaign’s purpose is support and development of reading culture; the preservation of historical, cultural, and spiritual heritage; and careful attitude to the native language. The campaign was founded by the Ministry of Culture and Information of Kazakhstan, the National Academic Library of Kazakhstan, the Library Association of Kazakhstan, the Kazakhstan Association of Reading, and the Youth Congress of Kazakhstan.
The motto of the unique campaign The Reading City is “Opening the book—open world!”
Kazakhstani children take part in an international campaign called We Read to Kids about War, which takes place in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. Children read aloud literary works describing the events of 1941 to 1945 and can listen to the best works about the Great Patriotic War in libraries of Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States countries. Every year the project becomes more popular. This project develops a sense of patriotism and pride and an understanding of heroism and the horrors of war.
The Autonomous Educational Organisation’s Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools are implementing a national project called 100 Books. Within the calendar year, each student independently reads works of fiction: 60 in Kazakh, 20 in Russian, and 20 in English.21
School libraries are part of the national education system and occupy a special position in the library networks of Kazakhstan. They are accessible to all young citizens of the country and create conditions for a comfortable reading environment. Currently, there are various software programs that help carry out technological functions of the library.
Kazakhstani schools and libraries hold events for fostering the interests of students in reading such as exhibitions, readers’ conferences, literary salons, literary tours, meetings with poets and writers, journalists and philologists of the republic and regions, and competitions of readers’ theater groups. Special literary tours are being organized. At the monuments to famous writers and poets, students get acquainted with the work of the Kazakh and Russian classics.
The Drop Everything—Start to Read! campaign has become a tradition in schools. On this day, teachers and students of Grades 1 to 11 as well as school staff members read fiction within 30 minutes. Class teachers at all schools conduct a weekly extracurricular class called One Hour Story, in which students talk about what they read during the week (the best way to learn is to listen). To generate interest in books and develop reading literacy, students keep reading diaries in which they record the author, title, and number of pages read.
Once a year, “Book Week” is conducted. In the framework of this event readers hold conferences, reader theater competitions, and campaigns such as Give a Book, Journey with a Book, My Friends Read, My Family and the Book, the Wonderful World of Libraries, and People and Books.
Every half year or quarter year, meetings with the participation of family members such as Favorite Books of my Family are held in Grades 1 to 4 and 5 to 9 to involve families in the reading process. The books that are read by parents and siblings are discussed, and they prepare a presentation or review of the books read within a certain period.
In the online electronic environment, texts become a source for reading, for seeking information, and a source that links with a traditional book. For upper secondary students, the initiative Our School E-library shares compact discs containing a decorated cover and abstracts of literary works they read with libraries.
The Ministry of Education and Science developed and implemented the project Kazakhstan’s Map of Children’s Reading, in which a list of literary works in Kazakh, Russian, and English was identified with the aim of developing children’s multilingualism.
In the framework of the countrywide campaign We are Your Children, Kazakhstan! We Live in a New World! dedicated to the International Children’s Day, the annual festival Writers of Kazakhstan to Children is held. It includes book exhibitions on various topics and meetings with the best local authors.
It has become a tradition to hold theatrical performances such as Book is Our Friend, It’s Quite Helpless Without and contests of children’s illustrations for favorite books in which winners are awarded. The main gift for children is a book.
Annual charity events aimed at collecting books for school libraries and orphanages are organized among the population.
In the contest The Leader of Reading, each library analyzes the library forms and finds the most active readers in various age categories.