I Want to Go to Pohang... A City Connecting Books, Reading Trips, and Culturally Specialized Libraries Galore

‘Jeong Mong-ju’ ‘Lee Gyu-jun’ ‘Literary Award’ ‘Social Welfare’ ‘Guryongpo Sea’ Specialized Libraries Line Up

8 Municipal Libraries, 40 Small Libraries, 8 Smart Libraries Each with Different Concepts

Highlighting Features for Seniors, Histor

Poeun Central Library.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters, Reporter Kim Yong-woo] Pohang City in Gyeongbuk is solidifying its image as a ‘reading culture city’ by promoting a library specialization project.

Pohang City has set the goal of creating a ‘library that connects people with books anytime, anywhere’ to promote the reading culture among its 510,000 local residents.

On the 2nd, Pohang City announced that it is establishing itself as a ‘reading culture city’ by distributing books and culture to citizens through various online and offline methods.

The city has established library infrastructure throughout the region with 8 municipal libraries, 40 small libraries, and 8 smart libraries. Each library is unique. The plan is to leverage the characteristics of each library to secure the position as the top reading culture city in Gyeongbuk Province.

Mayor Lee Kang-deok of Pohang said, “Libraries are becoming complex cultural spaces that embrace people, books, and culture, providing books, cultural events, and lifestyle information to satisfy the cultural needs of citizens.”

Poeun Central Library is named after Jeong Mong-ju’s pen name, who was killed by the founding faction of the Joseon Dynasty at the end of the Goryeo period.

It is the central library of Pohang used daily by about 5,000 citizens. It houses 200,000 volumes.

Every year, it conducts a citizen reading culture campaign under the theme ‘One Book One Pohang.’ It has the Yeonorang Room and Seo-nyeo Room.

It hosts a comic festival to foster a friendly book reading culture and serves as a place for citizens’ hobbies and leisure activities. It also connects with branch libraries and small libraries to serve as a hub library offering various books, cultural programs, and enhancing citizens’ leisure.

Daejam Library holds about 140,000 volumes. It is visited by an average of 800 citizens daily. It is a literature-specialized library.

Within the reference room, a specialized section called ‘Literary Award Winners’ is separately arranged to allow citizens easy access to literary works and to spark interest.

Yeongam Library holds about 90,000 volumes. It is a library with a strong ‘social welfare’ character.

Opened in 1987, it is the oldest municipal library in Pohang. Due to the old building, it underwent seismic reinforcement and remodeling, and has been newly renovated and operating since March last year.

It is a social welfare specialized library. It provides large print books and runs outreach silver programs, playing a role as a lifelong learning institution for the elderly.

Ocheon Library purchases about 2,000 new books annually and currently holds about 52,000 volumes, serving as a key library in Nam-gu district areas such as Cheongnim and Jecheol in Ocheon-eup.

It is a history-specialized library. Through programs like ‘Our History Exploration Team,’ which learns history through historical figures, it operates various programs and cultural lectures dealing with history.

The sea in front of Pohang as seen from Guryongpo Library.

Donghae Seokgok Library operates various humanities lectures centered on the scholarship and thoughts of Seokgok Lee Gyu-jun, a Confucian scholar and Korean medicine doctor from the late Joseon period.

This is a unique library specializing in an old scholar. It pursues specialization in Seokgok Lee Gyu-jun by setting up a materials corner featuring the teacher’s writings and other resources for reappraisal. It is also working hard on developing cultural content by inviting philosophy experts for special lectures.

The English Library will run various programs in the second half of this year with native speaker instructors, including ‘Super Simple Song’ for toddlers, ‘First Reading’ for elementary students, and ‘Super Basic English for Beginner’ for adults.

They plan to establish a Level 3 English Picture Book Instructor course, an adult reading club, and a children’s reading club.

Yeonil Library is a complex cultural space with diverse and new reading environments, delivering information and knowledge to local residents. It specializes in youth and creativity programs.

It provides creative reading experience opportunities for youth. By offering life-oriented reading culture services in the Yeonil area, it allows citizens to enjoy daily rest and cultural experiences.

Guryongpo Library opened in June this year. It remodeled part of the closed old Guryongpo Girls’ Middle and High School and houses about 15,000 volumes in a three-story building.

Reflecting the characteristics of a major local tourist destination, it holds specialized travel-related books. It offers excellent views of the East Sea and captures the atmosphere of a quiet rural village. It is a great place to visit from afar for rest and healing.

The entire Pohang area is connected through books and libraries.

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