Gwanak-gu 'Neighborhood Bookstore Direct Loan System' Selected as a Resident Life Innovation Case

Residents Borrow Books They Want to Read from Nearby Bookstores with the 'Neighborhood Bookstore Direct Loan System' Selected as an Excellent Innovative Case for Revitalizing the Local Economy and Finding Happiness in Daily Life

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Gwanak-gu (Mayor Park Junhee) has been honored by being selected for the Ministry of the Interior and Safety’s “2021 Resident Life Innovation Case Expansion Support Project.”

The “Resident Life Innovation Case Expansion Support Project” is a program that selects innovative cases and achievements of local governments discovered through various evaluations and excellent case competitions in the previous year (2020) as exemplary cases, and spreads them nationwide so that more residents can experience them in their daily lives.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety selected 33 preliminary cases for expansion from a total of 468 excellent regional innovation cases. Through online evaluations using “Gwanghwamun 1st Street” and “National Idea Box,” as well as on-site verification involving private experts and local residents, the final excellent cases were chosen.

Through this process, the district’s “Neighborhood Bookstore Direct Loan System” was selected as the final excellent case. In particular, it received great public support by obtaining 1,055 votes out of a total of 3,456 votes in the Gwanghwamun 1st Street online voting.

The “Neighborhood Bookstore Direct Loan System” is an innovative book lending service unique to Gwanak-gu, where residents can borrow books they want to read directly from nearby neighborhood bookstores without going through the library and return them to the library’s collection.

The district collaborated with five public libraries (Gwanak Cultural Foundation) and eight small neighborhood bookstores to significantly reduce the waiting period for receiving requested books from the existing 14 days to 3 days.

Since its first implementation in June 2019, the number of service users has increased significantly from 4,520 in 2019 to 12,771 in 2020, and neighborhood bookstore sales have tripled, receiving great support from residents.

The “Neighborhood Bookstore Direct Loan System” is available to anyone who is a regular member of the Gwanak-gu Integrated Library regardless of their residence, through the Gwanak-gu Integrated Library website or app. The district plans to expand participating bookstores to nine by the end of this year.

Mayor Park Junhee said, “Even when all libraries were temporarily closed due to COVID-19, the ‘Neighborhood Bookstore Direct Loan System’ played a significant role as an alternative library,” adding, “We hope that our district’s excellent innovative case, which increases residents’ reading opportunities and supports the operation of struggling neighborhood bookstores, will spread to more local governments and contribute to the revitalization of neighborhood bookstores and reading culture nationwide.”

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