Information Scotland The Journal of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals in Scotland ISSN 1743-5471 Issue contents | Journal contents | About the online edition of the journal December 2006 Volume 4(6)

Overseas libraries

More dynamic than calm

At this summer’s IFLA conference in Seoul, Rhona Arthur had the opportunity to discover how an impressive Korean public library is run.

Although Korea is known as the ‘Land of Morning Calm’, that doesn’t properly reflect the energy and enthusiasm surrounding library services. ‘Libraries: Dynamic Engines for the Knowledge and Information Society’ the theme of Seoul’s World Library and Information Congress (IFLA) this summer, sums them up much better.

The development of libraries in Korea has been a relatively recent phenomenon, although the Koreans have long had book storage facilities, functioning under names other than libraries, many of these based in Buddhist temples, royal archives and Confucian academies. It wasn’t until the 19th century that Koreans started to value the benefits of a modern library service, with free access to all citizens. Steadily over the last 150 years they have developed libraries across all sectors at a very rapid rate.

Progress with library development was inextricably linked to the political landscape, the first public library opening in Pyongyang (now North Korea) in 1906. Japanese colonists started a colonial library in 1923, which was the embryonic National Library of Korea. In 1947 there were only 47 public libraries across all Korea, many of which were destroyed during the Korean War. Numbers of new libraries opening in the last 10 ten years have grown steadily, demonstrating a level of investment and political support which is enviable (see table opposite).

South Korea has a presidential system, and a three-tier administrative system (central, regional (provincial) and local (cities, counties and wards). The impression left on many delegates is that Korea’s government highly values both education and libraries. The IFLA Opening Ceremony was attended by the First Lady, the Minister of Culture and Tourism and the Mayor of Seoul and included a keynote address by Dr Dae-Jung Kim, former President of Korea. In his speech, the Minister of Culture, Mr Myung-Gon Kim spoke of Korean pride in their libraries, the success of their ‘small library’ for each community and the establishment of a presidential committee for cross-sectoral library and information policy.

As with most IFLA conferences, the 72nd World Library and Information Congress, provided a opportunity to go on a library visit. Some of you will recall being hosts when IFLA came to Scotland five years ago. One of the visits offered in Seoul was to the Chungnang Public Library. This serves the Jungrang-gu area in the north-eastern part of Seoul – roughly 450,000 inhabitants (the same population as Edinburgh) with one partner library and 28 small lending libraries.

Focusing on the provision of information and lifelong learning opportunities, the library opened in 1999, with a major expansion in 2004. The library is in an impressive building, divided across five floors with attractive gardens and breakout roof-top areas – all with cold drinks and water machines. Seoul has very good levels of Internet access, much of the city has wireless networking and we were keen to see how this affected public library use.

More than 4,000 visitors a day come to the Chungnang Library, and it didn’t take very long to work out why. The key to success in Korean society is through education and self-advancement and the Koreans simply see the library service as a highly valued and integral part of success in life, both as individuals and as a nation. Over 1000 books are issued everyday, and the library also has a vibrant ebooks service which began in 2003. Another indication of investment and inclusion is the wall of Braille texts in a room set aside for special provision to the elderly and disabled, along with computers with assistive technologies and other facilities for the comfort of the venerated elders of the local community.

Starting at the top of the building, there was a comfortable auditorium used for local theatre and cinema, with seating for 400. Cultural education is highly valued and a range of recreational and language classes are held in a dedicated classroom. At the time of out visit over 30 mothers of kindergarten children were beings schooled in the correct pedagogical approach to assisting your child with reading and writing. It was absolutely packed with attentive mothers, paying for the privilege of helping their children to educational achievement, whilst their offspring were at kindergarten across the road. Reading classes are also provided for elementary school children during vacations.

The next floor had two reading rooms, capable of holding around 320 people. The provision was mostly wooden study carrels (very similar to those fondly remembered from college in the late 70s). Three rows of seats were packed with students of all ages waiting for a study space (no pc unless you bring your own to the reading room). Incredibly, there is an excess of demand over provision, and people queue for up to two hours, just to have the benefits of studying on site.

The middle floor had the general lending and reference section, along with the Electronic Materials Room, which provides information search, document delivery, scanning and print facilities and laptop computers working on wireless LAN. In all, over 600 places are provided for the public to use facilities, all supported by friendly staff. The staff wore sweatshirt uniforms and staffing levels were high. But it was the ratio of professional to paraprofessional staff which was remarkable, at 1:1. That has cost implications services in Scotland could not begin to consider.

Childrens’ facilities were also good, with two libraries – 0-3s with beautiful soft-feel flooring (no shoes allowed) and a children’s library for older children. The children’s library had Opacs set into trees in a woodland theme, but no general PC provision. The Koreans were just as concerned about Internet safety, with no access for the very young who could still use educational games or complete assignments. Boys far outnumbered girls on the day of our visit. Interestingly, outside the entrances to both the adult and children’s libraries were promotional stands with information about new books and recommended reads. The Multi-Media room had videos, DVDs, language learning materials, magazines and newspapers.

Ground floor exhibition space had a Chinese Books Display and an Onggi-Making Demonstration. Onggi are the clay pots in which the Korean’s store their pickled and fermented food, very important to their diet and part of their culture. Mr Yo-Surp Bae, also known as Seoul City Intangible Cultural Property No. 30, is the only artisan who can make Pu-Re Pottery in the nation. He was watched by a fascinated audience of locals, who could then go outside to the Onggi Garden which is a permanent part of the library’s facilities. We were very taken with the idea of Intangible Cultural Properties and wondered if Scotland’s Cultural Tsars could be encouraged to take up the idea. However, the next Intangible Cultural Properties spotted was a building – why isn’t that a Tangible Cultural Property, then?

Finally, the basement had a cafeteria, snack corner and bookstore along with the machine room. Membership is free and borrowers can take up to three books for 14 days. Reservations are permitted and availability is notified by text message. Access to a wide range of ebooks is via the library homepage, which has full search facilities for print as well, with online reservations and renewals. There’s a book-drop for times when the library is not open. Opening hours had been rationalised, with core opening hours of 9am-6pm, Mon-Sat, with a 5pm close on Sundays. The General Lending and Electronic Resources Room are open until 8pm Tues-Fri. The Reading Room has opening hours in summer of 7am-10pm and winter of 8am-10pm. However, there are closures on two Mondays per month.

In an effort to give Koreans every opportunity to compete in global markets, many initiatives have been brought in from other countries to encourage literacy and educational attainment. These include Bookstart and the One Book, One City (from ‘If all Seattle Read the Same Book’). Library Week takes place in April and there is Reading Month in September. On top of that, preschoolers and elementary school pupils in Chungnang can sign up for field trips, which help them to learn how to use library facilities and materials are part of outward bound projects. Materials, operating systems and membership are shared with partner library Jungnang Myunmok Information Library and there are close working relationships with the 11 school libraries in the area in an effort to promote student’s reading abilities.

In conclusion, we were impressed by the scale of the service in terms of levels of investment, diversity of facilities and staffing ratios. We were very courteously shown around and would like to thank the hosts for a very interesting visit.

Rhona Arthur is Assistant Director, SLIC.

Information Scotland Vol. 4(6) December 2006

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