Spanish Abstract: Se presenta el resultado de la investigacion sobre las actividades de promocion de la lectura que realiza la biblioteca publica en Colombia. Indaga acerca de la presencia de la biblioteca en la cultura escrita y el rol desempenado por las iniciativas de promocion de la lectura. Plantea la hipotesis de que la biblioteca publica en Colombia transita de un modelo tradicional, como templo del saber, a otro modelo mas dinamico y de intervencion social. La investigacion parte de las categorias propuestas en el cuestionario disenado por Brioney Train, de la Universidad de Sheffield, que tuvo como proposito conocer el alcance de los servicios y actividades que, en la comunidad britanica, pretenden desarrollar al lector y promover la lectura dentro y fuera de la biblioteca. La investigacion se llevo a cabo en cuatro etapas, en la primera se adecuo el cuestionario propuesto para la Encuesta Internacional aceptado por la Seccion de Lectura de IFLA; en la segunda se definieron los criterios y procedimientos que permitieran la aplicacion del cuestionario en las bibliotecas publicas de Colombia y el listado de fuentes de autoridad; en la tercera etapa se envio el cuestionario y en la cuarta se llevaron a cabo los procesos de preparacion, analisis e interpretacion de la informacion. Entre los resultados de la investigacion se destacan el analisis de la situacion de la biblioteca publica en Colombia, la promocion de la lectura y su incidencia en la transformacion de la biblioteca publica, el personal de las bibliotecas y su formacion, las actividades y la planeacion de la promocion de la lectura.English Abstract: This work presents the result of a research on reading promotion activities in Colombian public libraries. It searches for the presence of libraries in the written culture as well as the role played by the reading promotion initiatives. It establishes the hypothesis that public libraries in Colombia are going from a traditional model, as a Temple of Knowledge, to another model, which is more dynamic and of a social intervention nature. This research starts from the suggested categories in the questionnaire designed by Brioney Train, from the University of Sheffield, which had as a goal to know the scope of services and activities that, in the British community, intend to stimulate the reader and promote the reading in and outside the library. However, it was done within the category system developed by the research group in public library and reading. This research was carried out in four stages. In the first stage, the questionnaire proposed was made suitable to the International survey and accepted by the Reading section of IFLA. In the second stage, criteria and procedures to allow the questionnaire application in the public libraries in Colombia were defined. In addition, the list of sources of authority by which geographic location, name, and basic data of libraries were established. In the third stage, the questionnaire was delivered. Finally, in the fourth stage, preparation, analysis and interpretation processes were carried out. Among the results of this research, we stand out the analysis of the public library situation in Colombia, the reading promotion and its effect in the transformation of the public library, the librarians, their training, the planning, and the policies of reading promotion.