Busan Public Library Strengthens Book Safe Loan Service in Response to COVID-19

Busan City Hall

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Jonghyo] Since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), Busan City has been experiencing increased inconvenience for citizens due to the temporary closure of public libraries in the city. To address this, the city is providing ways to access library services without visiting the libraries.

According to Busan City on the 10th, the city operates a library system called the Smart Library Service, which is available 24 hours a day and unmanned. Currently, these are installed at Nam-gu Office, Yeonsan Station (Urban Railway), and the annex of Haeundae-gu Office. The city also offers a local bookstore hope book direct lending service, allowing citizens to borrow new books from nearby bookstores. This service is currently available in Buk-gu, Gijang-gun, and Yeonje-gu, and citizens can inquire at the respective local libraries. Geumjeong Library, Nam-gu Library, Yeongdo Library, Haeundae Humanities Library, Citizen Library, and Central Library provide a safe book lending service. If books are requested in advance through the website, they can be picked up at designated locations or from vehicles.

In addition, various services are available, including e-book services that allow borrowing books online through the Busan City Digital Library, and delivery services for books for the disabled, pregnant women, and infants.

Furthermore, to ease concerns about overdue books due to the temporary closure of libraries, Busan City will uniformly extend the return dates for all books borrowed from public libraries in the city. This extension applies not only to books with return dates during the closure period but also to overdue books (with return dates from January 1, 2020). All borrowed books will have their return dates extended until May 1.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.