Abstract:

The rapid development of the Internet and social networks has broken the notion of geographical boundaries and all kinds of barriers to communication. In the last ten years, social networks have become an integral part of the daily life not only of young people, but also of all age groups in society. The easy contact with relatives, friends and colleagues; the rapid exchange of information; content sharing options; the availability of an easily accessible communication platform – all this has made social networks an irreplaceable resource for communication. In the beginning of 2020 the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the spread of COVID-19 as a pandemic, as the spread was rapid and at a fast pace covered across the globe, which was the cause of social isolation and people had to spend more time at home – to work from home and to find new ways to entertain.

From the end of 2019, a team of young scientists – students, PhD students and postdoctoral students from the University of Library Studies and Information Technologies (Sofia, Bulgaria), are developing a research project KP 06-M35/3 from 18.12.2019 entitled: “Research of contemporary educational programs of cultural institutions in Bulgaria”, funded by the National Science Fund, part of the Ministry of Education and Science. In connection with the goals and objectives of the project, the formulated object of research are the national and regional museums and libraries in the country and in particular their educational initiatives for the period 2019-2020.

Due to the global pandemic surrounding the new coronavirus, which covered the entire globe, all countries have imposed restrictive measures in a number of respects. This also affected the cultural institutions, which in order to continue to function and not to lose the audience, very quickly focused their activities in the online environment.

This paper presents the results of a research, aimed at the educational initiatives of some of the Bulgarian history museums and regional libraries, initiated and shared on social networks in the conditions of lockdown for the period 13 March – 13 May 2020. The aim of this paper is to present some good examples for innovative approaches in the field of non-formal education in the Internet environment.

Keywords:

Social networks, museum, libraries, non-formal education, COVID-19, lockdown.