Exhibitions - March/April 2021

Since October 22, 2020, cultural events in the NL, Mirror Chapel of the Klementinum, the Klementinum Gallery and regular guided tours for tourists in historical premises have been cancelled. Thank you for understanding.

The exhibitions are POSTPONED until further notice due to covid-19.

We read. Do we read? Let´s read!
1 March – 30 April, 2021

Invitation - Online exhibition

The exhibition presents the history of reading, its various forms and research. In the Czech Republic, the tradition of reading research is rich, first studies of this kind were carried out in the 1920s. However, this display is focused on the research done after 2000.  Its results show many interesting things, such as what is the Czech reading population focused on, or the reasons why we read or why we do not read, as well as the development of these phenomena over time. Authors of the exhibition emphasize the importance of the family in the education for reading in future and good reading habits. They also focus on the role of libraries, schools and the book market.

Reading is a lifelong love. Sometimes just for some of us, but reading definitely accompanies all of us  throughout the life.

A team of authors led by prof. PhDr. Jiří Trávníček, M. A., drew data used in the exhibition from the following research studies: Readers and Reading in the Czech Republic (the research was carried out in 2007, 2010, 2013 and 2018) and The Research on Reading of Children and Youth in the Czech Republic (undertaken in 2013/2014, 2017).

The research Readers and Reading in the Czech Republic was focused on the population of the CR aged over 15 years. In 2007, the research dealt with reading and the relation of Czech readers to reading; in 2010, the questions emphasized belletres reading and the relation between reading and the Internet (or digital shere); In 2013, questions were oriented on the book market. The reasearch in 2016 The Internet Czechs as the Readers dealt with the relation of Czech readers to e-books. In 2018, the research was focused on reading socialization, i. e. reading in the family, the influence of school and library.

The research focused on children and the youth was aimed at reading books, the behaviour of readers, usual forms of free time activities, the influence of family and school environment on children´s relation to books and reading.

The exhibition is available online at the NL web – here.

If the National Library is open for on-site study, it will be accessible to the public on the ground floor corridor of the main Klementinum building (gate A) in the current opening hours.