The Project Bridging Generations: Fostering V4 Cultural Identity and Civic Engagement Through Innovative Library has been launched on a three days kick-off meeting (28-30 January) in Ostrava, Czech Republic in Moravian-Silesian Research Library with the participation of all partners from four Visegrád countries (in addition of the host library, Hamvas Béla Pest County Library from Szentendre, Hungary; Szinnyei József Library from Komarno, Slovakia and University of Wrocław from Poland)

The project aims at leveraging libraries as key hubs for engaging Generation Alpha in the V4 region. It empowers youth by transforming library spaces into forums for civic participation and shared cultural heritage. By adapting best practices of libraries all around the V4 project partners are working on elaborating a multilingual guidebook that will serve as a tool for engaging youth, transmitting democratic values, inclusivity and sustainable development. The project is based on cross-border cooperation, local identity awareness and inclusive engagement.

During the first meeting the partners established common understanding of project goals and methodology, finalized roles and responsibilities of each cooperating institution. The partners also conducted methodological workshops and initiated the collection of good practices related to youth engagement strategies in libraries. Strong personal connections were also established for effective cross-border collaboration in the future by participating at social programs. The first public events, when the general public may encounter the initial results of the project will be the youth engagement workshops this Spring, held in Komarno, Ostrava and Szentendre.

The project is realized with the financial support of the Visegrád Fund and lasts until January 2027. For further information, please visit our website

On May 12 and 13, 2026, two consecutive workshops were held at the Moravian-Silesian Research Library in Ostrava as part of the project Bridging Generations: Fostering V4 Cultural Identity and Civic Engagement Through Innovative Libraries. The program, My World, Our Reality, focused on media literacy, critical thinking, regional identity, and active citizenship.

The first workshop was attended by 25 upper-grade elementary school students from the Ostrava region and surrounding areas, who reflected on the influence of the media and the online environment on daily life through interactive activities, discussions, and work with specific examples of manipulation and disinformation.

The second day featured a methodological meeting for 25 librarians, during which the program’s structure for students, their reactions, and feedback from the implementation were presented. The session also included an exchange of experiences and a discussion on the possibilities of using participatory methods, storytelling, and media literacy topics in libraries when working with various target groups.

On May 8, 35 enthusiastic students participated in the My City, Our Szentendre program organized by the Visegrád Fund within the framework of Bridging Generations: Fostering V4 Cultural Identity and Civic Engagement Through Innovative Library (ID no. 22520386).

The children came from three schools: Kékvölgy Waldorf School in Pilisszentlászló, Bárczi Gusztáv General School in Szentendre, and the also local Barcsay Jenő Elementary School.

During the program, we were able to learn about the children's opinions about our city, about how they imagine it to be in the future, what they desire, and what they consider important.

Emma Csíkszentmihályi worked with the team from the perspective of a landscape architect, with Dóra Szentesiné Keleméri they learned about equal opportunities, while Dorottya Schmidt from the Humusz Association delved into the topic of sustainability. Based on their collected experiences, they created their own Szentendre with the help of an illustrator Zita Kismarty-Lechner, and then presented it to the mayor of our city, Zsolt Fülöp.

Our mayor liked the program and the children's participation so much that he invited the children's representatives to the city hall board meeting to present their ideas about the future of the city to the board members.

On July 1st, at a teacher professional day organized by the library, we will talk to local teachers about the program and the experiences gained there.

On May 22, our library hosted an interactive book presentation and workshop organized as part of the “Bridging Generations: Fostering V4 Cultural Identity and Civic Engagement Through Innovative Library” project (ID No. 22520386), supported by the Visegrád Fund. Twenty-eight students from the Marianum Church Education Centre participated in the event.

The project is co-financed by the Governments of Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia through Visegrad Grants from International Visegrad Fund. The mission of the fund is to advance ideas for sustainable regional cooperation in Central Europe.

The event began with a ceremonial welcome speech by our principal, after which actress Fanni Hostomský, introduced the students to the world of Anne-Laure Bondoux’s novel “As Long As We Are Alive”. They discussed deep subjects like survival, loss, but also spoke about the individual interpretation of literary works.

The presentation was followed by a creative workshop: one group of students worked on crafts, while the other filmed short videos promoting the aforementioned book. The event concluded with a presentation of the created works.