Gwanak-gu Discovers Non-Face-to-Face Services to Enhance Residents' Reading Culture in the COVID Era

Customized Services for the COVID-19 Era... Casebook Created to Share Examples of Contactless Reading Club Activities Including Contactless Book Loans, Audiobook and E-book Loans, and Neighborhood Bookstore Direct Loan System

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Jun-hee) is offering various non-face-to-face services to provide a new reading environment as library closures have been prolonged due to the spread of COVID-19.

First, they are operating U-Library and Smart Library as non-face-to-face book lending services.

The U-Library (unmanned book lending and return machine) has 264 compartments across five locations including Seoul National University Station, allowing reserved books to be picked up and returned via unmanned lending machines.

The Smart Library at Sillim Station stocks 422 books, enabling visitors to select desired books on-site for immediate lending and return, receiving great response.

The Gwanak-gu Integrated Library also provides audiobook and e-book lending services. With a collection of over 11,000 e-book titles and around 320 audiobooks, individuals can borrow up to five books on tablets or smartphones. There is no limit on simultaneous users, so popular e-books do not require reservations or waiting, which is a major advantage.

Additionally, the neighborhood bookstore direct lending system allows residents to borrow new books from local bookstores, up to five books per person per visit and ten books per month. On average, about 960 users borrow approximately 1,770 books monthly. Last year, over 10,000 users borrowed more than 20,000 books, proving to be a great help during library closures caused by COVID-19.

The minimum-contact reservation lending service is also in operation, where books held by public libraries can be requested by phone in advance and borrowed. Up to five books can be borrowed per person. Detailed information is available on the Gwanak-gu Integrated Library website.

Meanwhile, to foster a reading culture that might otherwise shrink due to COVID-19, last year 142 village reading clubs received non-face-to-face consulting, contributing to the activation of small group reading club meetings.

Cases of activities carried out during the COVID-19 crisis have been documented, and to support village-centered reading club activities, a casebook titled "Walking with Books, Walking with People" was produced. The book includes detailed manuals for operating non-face-to-face reading meetings, examples of non-face-to-face reading club activities, and solutions to problems encountered in reading meetings.

Furthermore, various reading culture programs are being promoted, such as producing a storytelling program based on the picture book "Starlight Hero Gang Gam-chan," about the Gwanak-gu hero General Gang Gam-chan, with participation from senior citizens in elderly job programs, and uploading it on YouTube.

Park Jun-hee, Mayor of Gwanak-gu, emphasized that even amid the COVID-19 crisis, the most important thing is a healthy body and mind, and the foundation of that is "reading." He stated, “As isolation from neighbors and surroundings deepens due to COVID-19, I hope a mature reading culture will form where people read books together and share thoughts to understand themselves and their neighbors.” He added, “We will continue to strengthen advanced non-face-to-face services in line with the post-COVID-19 era.”