The time-span of almost twenty-five years after the velvet revolution allows us to reflect on the changes which have been introduced in the society in various spheres. Our paper, based on the research of the existing market and the analysis of selected chidren encyclopaedias, draws attention to the deficiencies of some translated encyclopaedias but also to those which automatically adopt foreign models; above all teh fromal - visual aspect from western commercial publishers without the adequate technological support which would reflect modern findings in the scietntific area and marketing as well as those of pedagogy and psychology.
The main problem area seems to be general encyclopaedias which describe the world where a child lives and which souhld cater to child's needs during primary schooling. We have discovered significant deficiencies in encyclopaedias for pre-school children as well.
These encyclopaedias (so called picture books) do not follow Czech cultural context, moreover, they underestimate children's intellect very often. Our findings point out at the necessity to cerate new encyclopaedias for children.