Nowon-gu Utilizes Libraries as Hubs to Revitalize Village Communities

‘Library Village Community Revitalization Project’ Contest for Resident Groups of 5 or More... 32 Communities Selected in Seed and Sprout Stages, Up to 2.5 Million KRW Support... Submit by May 29 via Email to Library or District Office Officials by Activity Area and Application Field

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Nowon-gu (Mayor Oh Seung-rok) is utilizing libraries as hubs for revitalizing village communities.

This initiative aims to help residents systematically utilize the well-equipped knowledge and cultural infrastructure of local libraries and is conducted in the form of a public contest.

The eligibility criteria for the Library Knowledge and Culture Village Community Revitalization Contest require groups of five or more, with the majority of the representative proposer and group members being Nowon-gu residents, and the representatives of children and youth groups must be adults.

The activity period runs until November this year, and recruitment is divided into Seed Stage and Sprout Stage depending on the nature of the activities.

The Seed Stage focuses on building relationships among neighbors, with reading and discussion activities centered around the library as the main purpose.

The Sprout Stage involves more specific and practical village activities. These include operating learning spaces where neighbors satisfy intellectual curiosity and grow together, or creating and sharing local information in the form of materials that capture stories of the village and neighbors.

Those wishing to participate in group activities can submit their application by email, specifying the field of activity, to the relevant library or district office by the 29th.

Through evaluation, 30 groups for the Seed Stage and 2 groups for the Sprout Stage will be selected. The announcement will be posted on the district website on the 8th of next month, and individual notifications will be sent to the project proposers.

Selected groups will receive activity funding of 500,000 KRW for the Seed Stage and 2,500,000 KRW for the Sprout Stage.

If consultation is needed during the project planning process, applicants can receive advice from the person in charge. For more details, inquiries can be made to the Village Community Division.

The district is conducting various projects based on libraries. It provides community spaces in 33 library idle spaces, including six public libraries, and representative projects include the ‘Reading In’ program where volunteer readers visit vulnerable groups to read books, and the ‘Human Book’ program where professionals share their talents and experiences.

The ‘Book Start’ project, which delivers book packages to infants aged 0 to 18 months, is also gaining popularity.

Mayor Oh Seung-rok said, “Through this project, we hope that libraries will become key spaces for information sharing and communication within the community and establish themselves as hubs for revitalizing village communities.”

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