'Cities Made by People Who Read Books'?

Geumcheon-gu to Hold Forum with 27 Member Cities on November 30 at Geumcheon-gu Office Auditorium... Keynote Speech, Presentations, and Comprehensive Discussions on 'Cities Created by People Who Read Books'... Entire Forum Live-Streamed on Geumcheon-gu Office YouTube Channel

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jong-il] Geumcheon-gu (Mayor Yu Seong-hoon) announced that it will hold the National Book Reading Cities Council Forum at 2:30 PM on November 30th in the main auditorium of Geumcheon-gu Office.

The "National Book Reading Cities Council" is an organization founded in 2018 with Geumcheon-gu as the chair city, aiming to spread reading culture and create a book-reading community society by promoting exchange and cooperation among cities nationwide that encourage reading.

This forum was prepared to share reading policies and consider directions for reading policies such as spreading a book-reading culture in the With-Corona era to strengthen the capabilities of member cities of the National Book Reading Cities Council.

Hosted by the National Book Reading Cities Council and Geumcheon-gu, this forum will feature a keynote speech, thematic presentations, and a comprehensive discussion under the theme "Cities Made by People Who Read Books."

Twenty-seven member cities of the council will participate via YouTube access, and about 30 residents are expected to attend the venue. The entire process, including lectures and presentations, will be broadcast live on Geumcheon-gu Office's YouTube channel.

Starting with a keynote speech by Professor Noh Myung-woo of the Sociology Department at Ajou University on the theme "Cities Made by People Who Read Books," thematic presentations will follow in this order: ▲ Professor Shin Jong-ho of the Education Department at Seoul National University with "Cities with Improved Literacy," ▲ Son Moon-kyung, CEO of Achimdal Publishing, with "Cities with Increasing Publishers and Independent Bookstores," and ▲ Eom Hye-sook, member of the Goyang City Reading Culture Promotion Committee, with "Cities Where Citizens Read Books."

Following this, a comprehensive discussion with the speakers and presenters on the theme "Directions for Book-Reading Cities" will take place.

Yu Seong-hoon, Mayor of Geumcheon-gu and chairperson of the National Book Reading Cities Council, said, "The spread of COVID-19 has made it difficult to restore daily life where people come and go," adding, "I hope this forum will be an opportunity for people to connect with each other and for books to meet books."

Geumcheon-gu declared the vision of "A City Created Together, a Book-Reading City Geumcheon" with a vision proclamation ceremony for "Book-Reading City Geumcheon" held in June last year. It established a mid-term plan to revitalize reading culture and identified 30 promotion tasks across 10 major agendas.

In particular, to improve convenience for library users, the Deoksan Library, which celebrated its 20th anniversary last year, was fully remodeled, and the Gasan Library will be fully remodeled in 2022.

Additionally, Geumcheon-gu plans to build a new representative library symbolizing the district to expand cultural infrastructure for residents.

Furthermore, various policies to spread the culture of reading are being promoted, such as "Hope Book Direct Loan" in cooperation with local bookstores, "Daily 20-Minute Reading Donation" where reading books leads to donating books, and "Themed Book Packages" for reading with family.