Slovenska bralna krajina

Slovenijo in Jugoslavijo je od ostalih socialističnih držav ločevala večja odprtost in večja avtonomija podjetij, kar je veljalo tudi za knjižne založbe. Zato je bila knjižna ponudba bolj pestra kot drugje v vzhodnem delu Evrope, hkrati pa so slovenske založbe že v sedemdesetih in osemdesetih letih z zahodnoevropskih knjižnih trgov prenesle številne tržne prijeme in jih inovativno prilagodile lokalnim razmeram. Po osamosvojitvi so zato skoraj vse stare založbe uspešno preživele spremembo družbene ureditve, nastale so tudi številne nove. V kombinaciji z naglim razvojem tiskarske tehnologije so te družbene in kulturne premene pripeljale do velike rasti novo izdanih naslovov. Slovenija je ob tem tudi uspešno ohranila in še dodatno razvila mrežo splošnih knjižnic, v kateri si bralci izposodijo precej več knjig, kot jih kupijo. Toda ob tem se velikost bralne krajine ni spremenila: zadnjih petdeset let približno polovica prebivalcev Slovenije ne bere knjig. Prispevek se zaključi s pomislijo, da to za Slovenijo predstavlja svojevrstno razvojno težavo in hkrati tudi izziv.Slovenia (and Yugoslavia) were distinguished from other communist countries by greater openness and autonomy of business enterprises, which also applied to book publishers. Therefore, the range of books available was more diverse than elsewhere in eastern Europe. In addition, Slovenian publishers adopted many marketing approaches from the western European book markets as early as the 1970s and 1980s, innovatively adapting them to the local context. After Slovenia’s independence, nearly all old publishers thus successfully made the transition to capitalism, and many new ones were established. In combination with the rapid development of printing technology, these social and cultural changes have led to significant growth in newly published works. Alongside this, Slovenia has successfully retained and further developed its network of public libraries, from which readers borrow significantly more books than they buy. However, the size of the reading landscape has remained the same: over the past fifty years, approximately half of the Slovenian population has not been reading books. This article ends by concluding that this represents both a developmental problem and a challenge for Slovenia