The place of encyclopedias and encyclopedia studies in society

In contemporary society, encyclopedias play an important role, being one of the symbols of statehood and an indicator of the level of development of science and culture. The article substantiates the transformation of the role of the encyclopedia in the life of society in different historical eras, and defines the development of encyclopedia studies as a scholarly domain. The encyclopedic genre is one of the most complex of another in book publishing, and therefore encyclopedia creation processes are used technology different from other publishing technologies.