The University Library invites the Brown community to recognize and celebrate International Literacy Day. For over 40 years, UNESCO has celebrated International Literacy Day. The focus this year is on “literacies of the 21st century.”

As technology continues to change, the notion of literacy continues to evolve. Literacy has always been shaped by culture, history, language, religion, and socio-economic conditions, but for many years literacy was limited to reading, writing, and numeracy skills. Now other ways of understanding “literacy” or “literacies” have emerged.

With this year’s International Literacy Day dedicated to “literacies for the 21st century” the goal is to highlight the need for “basic literacy skills for all” as well as equip everyone with more advanced literacy skills as part of lifelong learning.