On 10 October 2023, the Ljubljana Manifesto on the Importance of Higher-Level Reading was published in order to stop the decline of reading ability and literacy “as digital technologies are changing the ways we live, interact, work, study, and read.”
The manifesto was written by experts in the fields of literacy and publishing, André Schüller-Zwierlein from Regensburg University, Anne Mangen from the University of Stavanger in Norway, Miha Kovač from the University of Ljubljana, and Adriaan van der Weel from the University of Leiden.
The International Publishers Association (IPA) joins the Federation of European Publishers (FEP), PEN International, the German Academy of Language of Poetry, the consortium of European reading promotion organizations and the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) in announcing its support for the Ljubljana Manifesto. The negative impact of digitization on long-form reading and reading comprehension cannot be overstated, and once again we are reminded that higher-level reading is essential to exercising critical thinking in effective democratic societies. The IPA joins the “call to acknowledge the permanent significance of higher-level reading in the digital era.”
More on the importance of higher-level reading is available here, and the full text of the manifesto is available here.