Abstract:

The project which started in 2020 and entitled ”Study of Attitudes to the Therapeutic Potential of Reading in Atypical Situations for the Individual” financed by the National Science Fund of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Bulgaria with Contract № № КП-06-Н45/2 from 30.11.2020, has provoked new scientific research interests. The aim of the project is to study the recognition of the possibilities for bibliotherapy and the degree of meaningfulness of reading as a therapeutic tool for maintaining emotional and mental balance in times of crisis. By studying the attitudes during the imposed changes, which occurred following the pandemic of COVID-19 in the daily life of Bulgarian people, the answer to the question to what extent reading is used as a mechanism to support the preservation and achievement of emotional and mental balance in critical and unnatural situations for the individual will be sought.

The team of specialists involved in the project has initiated diverse studies, which at most cover the main idea of the project and support the possibility of a real picture at the level of acceptance of the therapeutic function of reading. In order to highlight the main trends in the country, it is necessary to study the degree of development of bibliotherapy in Bulgaria in a scientific and applied context in various aspects.

The sub-goal of the project is to increase the quality of information provision and systematization of knowledge on the issues of bibliotherapy and enrichment of disciplines taught in the specialty of Library and Information Management.

The purpose of the report is to give a brief overview of the research conducted so far on the project and present the possibilities for integrating the results obtained in the training of future librarians. Thanks to the obtained results, the main tendencies and regularities of the processes related to the understanding of the therapeutic function of reading in a period of global pandemic are outlined. Thus, the University of Library Studies and Information Technologies has been working to create a scientific community that will provoke the scientific interests of the library community and create the foundations for a new perception of the possibilities of bibliotherapy. The teaching of a number of disciplines related to the essence of bibliotherapy is a prerequisite for the creation of broad-based specialists ready to respond to the needs of modern society.

Keywords:

Bibliotherapy, education, COVID-19 pandemic, therapeutic, library studies, librarian.