Support, promotion and popularization of reading by the modern Russian professional community

The turn of the 20th and 21st centuries was the time of formation a new social reality, where books and reading lost their leading positions to new media technologies. The index of media activities for reading on paper continues to decline steadily. The formation processes of a technogenic society in the country as well as digitalization and convergence of media industry, including publishing, bookselling and library complex and mass media in the early 21st century brought a powerful contradiction. On the one hand, serious threats to the existence of books and reading have arisen, but on the other hand, new opportunities for maintaining and enhancing book culture have appeared. Under these conditions, the professional community has taken effective measures to stimulate public interest in books, reading and libraries. It involved interested organizations in this process; developed special programs and projects for the promotion and development of book culture; created special centers at libraries and universities dedicated to the study of modern reading; provided scientific, methodological and practical assistance to libraries. The professional community also organized the largest professional forums and campaigns to attract the public to reading. The purpose of the article is to show how various institutions, centers, government structures and creative unions in Russia support, promote and popularize the reading. This article allow us to get acquainted with the most successful experience of existing and/or newly created organizations and public associations carried out educational, informational and research activities in the field of books and reading.