On 16 June, Fernanda Bonacho, UNESCO chairholder of the UNESCO Chair of Communication, Media and Information Literacy and Citizenship (LIACOM/ESCS), researcher at LIACOM, and professor at the School of Communication and Media Studies (ESCS), participated online in the international seminar “Celebrating 40 Years of ThaiPUL: Strengthening Librarianship Networks for Sustainable Innovation in the AI Era,” organized by the Thai Private University Library Network (ThaiPUL) in Thailand, in collaboration with other local organizations.
The seminar served as a platform to bring together higher education librarians and other scholars to promote the exchange of knowledge, experiences, and perspectives on the challenges and good practices associated with the digital age and artificial intelligence (AI).
Invited as a media literacy expert and member of the UNESCO’s MIL Alliance Global Board, Fernanda Bonacho shared international perspectives on media literacy, as well as the experience of the LIDERA project in the age of artificial intelligence.
In her presentation, she began by highlighting the importance of media literacy for maintaining a free and democratic society, arguing that libraries play a central and strategic role in this context. “Libraries are not merely places that store knowledge, but dynamic institutions that actively contribute to education, communication, and community engagement,” she said, adding that they help ensure “equitable access to information.”
Fernanda Bonacho then presented the LIDERA project – Ler Informação Diária para Escolher, Refletir e Agir (Reading Daily Information to Choose, Reflect and Act), a series of workshops held between October 2025 and May 2026 to establish guided reflection groups on media literacy and the critical reading of journalistic content in school, higher education, and municipal libraries. The initiative was promoted by the ESCS UNESCO Chair, the Portuguese School Libraries Network (RBE), and the Portuguese Regulatory Authority for the Media (ERC).
The project engaged teacher-librarians and librarians from more than 130 libraries across Portugal and delivered activities involving more than 3,500 participants, the majority of them high school students.
The guest speaker noted that from the intersection of UNESCO’s strategy for media literacy with the experience of the LIDERA project we understand that media literacy initiatives must be embedded across society as a whole, not as isolated initiatives. She also stressed the importance of continuous adaptation to changing circumstances, particularly through the development of new educational materials, methodologies, and training programmes.
Reflecting on today’s AI-driven information ecosystem, Fernanda Bonacho underlined that “libraries, especially through networks such as ThaiPUL, are particularly well positioned because they combine access [to information] with mediation, operate within educational settings and trusted public institutions, and can achieve large-scale impact through collaboration.”