Being contemporaries of the process of reshaping the dominant communication model from books toward screen, we as well witness the new relations established by people of the screen. Upon expiry of Book and Language Year, effects of which we almost did not notice; in the era of billboards on which no one properly uses rules of capitalization, and the text messages that only exceptionally contain grammatically correct written text; in front of TVs from which presenters with speech impediments address us in the most weirdly accented words of Serbian language; with primary school pupils who do not learn a foreign language by writing and exercising its words; working with freshmen who do not know that the use of margins shows the culture of writing and holders of master’s degree who photocopy books of their professors; while hypertext with its links makes us forget where did we start from - the act of persistent and patient reading of a linear text seems anachronistic and almost futile.

The attempts to overcome the crisis of reading, which appears as a global phenomenon, have taken on, in different parts of the world, characteristics of organized long-term oriented activities conducted by states and governments, but even more so and with more success - by independent cultural institutions and non-governmental sector. Easily accessible websites, such as Reading Worldwide (www. reading-worldwide.de), I Love Libraries (Ilovelibraries.org), Stiftung lesen (www.stiftunglesen.de), Bookstart (www.bookstart.org.uk), which, simultaneously with promotion of reading, promote the role of libraries in these endeavors, testify to the scale and seriousness of these actions.

Convinced that the classical culture of writing and linear text is not opposed to the forthcoming information age and that it should be the basis for still unreached information literacy, we dedicate the column Theme in the No 19 to the phenomenon of reading and irreplaceable role that libraries play in promoting the reading culture.

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