Vol. 3 No. 1 (2025): September 2025

ABSTRACT

In the era of globalization, reading is not limited to printed texts but also includes digital texts, multimedia, and other visual information. Therefore, reading literacy is the foundation for mastering digital, information, and media literacy. Reading skills also improve empathy and social intelligence. Reading literature or stories from different cultures, for example, broadens one's perspective and sharpens social sensitivity—important in today's era of global connectivity. Seeing this urgency, the supervisor of the Community Service Learning Program (KKN) of the Sahid Islamic Entrepreneur University (IAI Sahid) Bogor, held a seminar entitled "The Importance of Reading in the Era of Globalization". The seminar was held at Fajrul Islam Junior High School, Gunung Bunder 1 Village on Saturday, August 26, 2023, and was attended by 56 students of the school. Before the seminar started, a pretest was held to measure participants' initial knowledge, and after the seminar post-test was held to measure the effectiveness of the seminar. The results of the post-test showed that all students mentioned that reading is important. This means that there has been a significant increase in the fundamental understanding of the importance of reading. The seminar succeeded in uniting the perception that reading is a valuable activity. The results of the post-test also showed that 96.4% of participants said there was a link between a person's success and their love of reading. This shows that seminar material is effective in providing insight into the relationship between reading and academic achievement and life success. The results of the post-test also showed that there was an increase in motivation and commitment to improve reading habits.