The Encyclopedia Branch as a Component in Book Culture of Ukraine: Actual Trends

The study describes the encyclopedia branch as a phenomenon of book culture thathas spiritual and material components. The Aim of the study is to analyze encyclopedias as a phenomenon of book culture, to trace the tendencies of development of the encyclopedia publishing in Ukraine. Research methodology: the descriptive method is used in the study, as well as the comparative method and the generalization method. The results of the study are as follows. The encyclopedia publishing development correlates with the level of the spiritual culture of society. At the same time, encyclopedia as a phenomenon is a significant factor in raising the spiritual culture of people, overcoming the spiritual crisis of society. It also focuses here on the phenomenon of encyclopedic culture. This research outlines the main trends in the encyclopedia publishing development of Ukraine, among which there are positive ones, in particular the appearance and advance of electronic (online) encyclopedias that extend the access of people to encyclopedic knowledge and ways of their reproduction through modern web technologies; as well as negative, the main of which is the weak state promotion of publishing industry associated with encyclopedic books.