Summary
Search for an adequate model of financing of culture that could successfully meet the goals of cultural and economic policies, but also the interests and expectations of the community and all the relevant actors in culture, has launched broad debates during the nineties of the 20th century.
In Europe, that was the beginning of difficult times for culture funding, since it was realized that increased public infrastructure and administration could no longer be sustained. Traditional models of financing of culture that rely on public resources are common practice which is difficult to change, so the reforms reach for measures that have rather corrective than the character of radical changes. This paper presents the genesis of relationship between the state and the system of culture funding, and analyzes its trends and concepts in the European Union, with particular emphasis to the position of library activities. The last part of the work considers the funding of culture in Serbia in the historical-comparative context, investigates its current problems and development perspectives, and assesses the position of library activities in the local practice of culture funding. Traditional models of funding libraries and their high reliance on public resources are common practice in most European countries. The reforms in financing of library activities, and increase of the own income are being carried out through innovative library services that expand the very role of libraries (digitized contents, more intensive training programs, programs for retraining), participating in international networks and joint projects, structural and other programs of the EU financial assistance, development of transboundary library services, intersectoral cooperation and promotion of information literacy, and so on.

Keywords:
culture, financing, library activities, European Union, postmodern Europe, European financing programmes, creative economy.

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