It is time to introduce you to a new journal devoted to the problems of literacy in its very broad sense of the word. The topic of literacy was selected because of an increased importance of the problem and also, our editorial board’s decision to further expand its geographical boundaries and go way beyond education in Russia and the U.S.A. We do realize that in a world that is more and more globalized we should also go global, and we did – during the last 5.5 years the journal has accumulated readers from 142 (!) countries. The majority of the papers published in the current journal issue analyze the concept and practice of literacy in its traditional understanding as language literacy together with a few which deal with the problems of historical, professional, and religious literacy as well. It is obvious that without knowing one’s own language and culture an individual will never be able to live a full life and feel satisfied with its quality. Our guest editor and a dear friend Dr. Zehlia Babaci-Wilhite, a visiting scholar from the University of California, Berkeley, CA, collected and edited papers which discuss the issue of language literacy and as a result, science literacy in some African countries (see: Babaci-Wilhite; Kyeu; Mchombo and Okonkwo), Bosnia (Besirevic), and the USA (Washington). Russian academics Cheremisinova and Firsova raise the issue of the current reading crisis in their country considering it “a threat to a national wellbeing.” Our frequent author Professor Demakova approaches the problem of literacy from the point of view of a teacher of teachers and shares her own unique experience in this field. Another Russian expert Dr. Tyulyaeva examines the issue of religious literacy in Russian schools and shows how it has been approached and settled. No less challenging and informative is the paper submitted by an American researcher Dr. Lovorn who discusses the problem of developing historical literacy in high school students. And finally, our regular writer, Professor Boguslavsky introduces one more renowned Russian educator, famous for his theoretical research and practice in the field of dissemination literacy in the 19th-century Russia.