National Library's Most Borrowed Book by the Late Lee O-ryeong

원본보기 아이콘

[Asia Economy Reporter Seo Mideum] The National Library of Korea conducted a big data analysis of the public library loan status of related books over the past 10 years (2012.1.1.~2022.3.18.) to commemorate the late Lee O-ryeong, the first Minister of Culture, who passed away on February 26. This analysis was based on 1,087,038,270 loan records from the library big data analysis platform ‘Library Information Naru’.

The wave of mourning for the late former Minister Lee O-ryeong continued from bookstores to public libraries. The book with the highest increase in loans compared to the last week of February was ▲'Digilog', and the most borrowed book in the first week of March was ▲'Lee O-ryeong’s Last Lesson'.

Compared to the previous week, loans of related books rose by 133%, from 545 in the fourth week of February 2022 to 1,270 in the first week of March. 'Digilog' is a term that combines digital foundations with analog sensibilities, referring to the spirit of the digital and analog eras. 'Lee O-ryeong’s Last Lesson' contains an interview with reporter Kim Jisoo, in which Lee O-ryeong shares his final thoughts on life and death.

According to the loan data analysis, the most borrowed book over the past 10 years was 'Awakening Thoughts' (17,190 loans), which explains creative thinking methods tailored to children’s perspectives. Next was the confession of human hesitation as a Christian, ▲'From Intelligence to Spirituality' (17,112 loans), followed by ▲'Are You Really Not Korean?' (16,929 loans), which explores the characteristics, culture, and emotions embedded in the Korean language.

By gender, women (170,616 loans, 57.6%) borrowed 22.7% more than men (103,560 loans, 34.9%). By age group, the loan counts were highest among those in their 40s (139,318 loans, 47.0%), followed by 30s (65,215 loans, 22.0%), 50s (37,956 loans, 12.8%), 60s (30,559 loans, 10.3%), and 20s (23,332 loans, 7.9%).

Keyword analysis of the late Lee O-ryeong’s works showed that ‘thought’ was the most frequently mentioned, followed by ‘culture’, ‘era’, and ‘people’. This result was derived from analyzing keywords in the titles, tables of contents, and reviews of 199 works by the late Lee O-ryeong held in 1,330 public libraries nationwide.

A National Library of Korea official stated, “The late Lee O-ryeong, the first Minister of Culture, sought paradigms of culture and communication through intellectual curiosity and creative imagination. In particular, we deeply remember his achievements in transferring libraries from the Ministry of Education to the Ministry of Culture and laying the foundation for their development, and we will continue his legacy as the nation’s representative library.”

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