In May 2009, in the editorial of the issue dedicated to financing of public libraries in Serbia, we have highlighted the financing as a matter of system, of stability, predictability, planning, communication, transparency of work and comparability. On that occasion we offered examples of good (and the others - less good) practice from the perspective of library managers, and as for the broader social context, we left it for another occasion. In Čitalište No 21 we return to the material aspects of work of libraries by offering consideration of basic characteristics of the current cultural and economic system as a prerequisite for a better understanding of requirements that it puts in front of librarians.

The market in culture, cultural capital, creative economy, creative industries, territorial capital, development policies at the local and regional level, cultural tourism, corporate social responsibility, cultural funding, interdepartmental cooperation, the relationship between technological progress and the growth of library production, public procurement for libraries, are the topics launched under the common title Culture and Economy. Guest editor, MSc Hristina Mikić, a lecturer at the School of Modern Business in Belgrade, gathered as her associates mostly economists - professors at the Faculty of Economics in Belgrade, and representatives of the Ministry of Culture and the Public Procurement Office, in order to provide a broader picture of the environment in which our libraries operate. The article that explores possible roles of public libraries in the development of creative economy and cultural tourism, from the standpoint of profession itself, is also attached to the column Theme.

Emphasizing multidisciplinarity of librarianship as one of its comparative advantages and expressing disagreement with its prevailing determination as a philological discipline, the Editorial Board will continue to expand the circle of contributors, underlining cultural-communicational capacity of the profession.

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