At the time of finalizing the latest issue of Čitalište, the Serbian cultural public was agitated by the question of appointment of public library directors. A great possibility of their election through the open competition has, however, shown all the incompleteness of legislation in the field of library and information activities, as well as the human resource vulnerability of the profession, and the old habits of individuals that seem to be completely at variance with the essence of the proclaimed principles of transparency in work and decision-making. Amendments to library statutes, designed and adopted for this occasion, discriminatory conditions for employees of libraries eligible to apply, spreading misinformation and fatalism have become a common place.

It is interesting that, up to this point, the professional librarian public is mostly – mute. Those who do give statements are writers, university professors, publishers, public figures and, only occasionally, some of librarians. We could maliciously notice that precisely those librarians who, over the past years, could not possibly accept the idea of formal librarian education as the strongest barrier against any type of manipulation, were the only ones who spoke up, but it is not time for being malicious. In the absence of generally accepted values of the profession, those who form the public opinion and affect it are mostly people from the outside of librarianship. And they are, logically, less interested in status issues of the profession.

The relationship between libraries and the public was planned to be the theme in this issue of Čitalište long before the actual events have occurred. The research conducted by Vesna Vuksan and Gordana Stokić Simončić in public libraries of Serbia, has unambiguously imposed conclusions about deficiency in internal communication in libraries, underdeveloped awareness of the need for nurturing organizational culture, anachronistic mode of delegating tasks, as well as malicious attitude towards volunteering. On the other hand, construction of identity and image of libraries, public opinion polls, establishing relations with financial institutions and sponsors, fundraising, lobbying, even forming support groups, also belong to underdeveloped forms of public relations. Having in mind the actual events, we can say that they have, in an unexpected way, confirmed the results of the research.

The texts of Marjan Marinković, Mirjana Starčević and Radmila Janičić confirm that librarians communicate more successfully with the public regarding funds, programs and services. The Belgrade City Library and the Cervantes Institute in Belgrade are presented as exemplary models. Finally, in their article, Claudia Serbanuta and Annie Pho show how the interests of libraries can be represented through the concept of non-conference – riding bikes with librarians.