At a media literacy seminar hosted by the National Library on April 14, attendees learned about the critical concepts of assessing, confirming, and interpreting information in the digital age. The seminar discussed: • Safe Internet • Why is information verification important • Principles of information verification • Working with open data • Verification of photos and videos.

There is media everywhere: the wall-mounted announcements, the TV at home, the soap opera and cartoons, the vibrant outdoor billboard ads, the podcast on headphones, the textbook at school, the phone apps, the images, videos, posts, and the likes and comments that circulate on social media... According to Armine Vardanyan, seminar instructor and head of the publicity department, "people with digital tools in their pockets, an audience, and something to say are also media."

It is more crucial than ever to cultivate critical thinking skills, be able to discern between truth and opinion and be resistant to manipulative content in the current information era, as social media platforms have emerged as one of the primary information sources. Along with other subjects, the seminar covered the significance of social networks in the creation and distribution of information, techniques for evaluating reliability, ways that manipulative content and fake news are transmitted, the need for media literacy for individuals as a social duty, and more.

Employees from the National Library and the community libraries in Yerevan attended the training. There were the Shengavit Administrative District Libraries No. 32 and No. 18, the Kanaker-Zeytun Library, the National Children's Library named after KhNko Apor, the City Library named after Av. Isahakyan, and others. The National Library expresses its gratitude to every participant for their enthusiastic participation and dialogue. Our continuous educational initiatives are designed to raise the library community's degree of media literacy.