Publishing Activity of the Pančevo City Library in the Field of Librarianship

Abstract

The publishing activity of the Pančevo City Library (PCL) is focused on publishing professional and scientific publications in the field of librarianship and cultural history. The Library published its first book, the catalogue of belles-lettres in Serbo-Croatian, German, and Hungarian, in the interwar period, in 1936. It restarted to issue publications related to librarianship in the 1980s. The launch of a new periodical entitled Pančevačko čitalište in 2002 marked the beginning of the renaissance of the academic publishing of this library. From the first issue, the journal gathered valuable collaborators from all types of libraries and academic institutions, which further influenced the overall publishing activity of the PCL. The change in the name of this publication, i.e. the omission of the local designation in its title in 2011, marked a conceptual shift and the transformation of the professional into a scientific journal on the theory and practice of librarianship. The contributors and editors of Čitalište, with their texts, studies, and overall engagement, have significantly helped to improve the process of professional development of Serbian librarians and the dissemination of information in the field of library and information science.  They have been engaged especially in the systematic research of the history of librarianship and the establishment of the professional community identity. Studies in this area, based on the results of research conducted for the purpose of preparing doctoral dissertations, as well as proceedings from the Scientific Conference “Libraries and Identity” organized since 2017 by the Pančevo City Library in cooperation with the academic communities of the universities of Belgrade and Novi Sad, are the best proof of this.