W552 billion allocated for 180 new public libraries

A total of 552 billion won ($493 million) has been earmarked for opening 66 public libraries and 114 small libraries, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Wednesday.

The move is part of the government’s “Library Development Comprehensive Plan,” set for 2009-2013 to promote reading.

The 552 billion won includes a 188 billion won budget from the central government, 349 billion won from local governments and 15 billion won in private investment, the ministry said.

The culture ministry will spend 83.5 billion won, the education ministry 26.2 billion won, and the defense ministry 7.3 billion won. The education ministry’s budget will be spent for more books for students at public schools’ libraries, while the defense ministry will improve infrastructure of military libraries.

Gyeonggi Province, where 20 of the 66 new libraries will be located, will spend 98 billion won, while the Seoul Metropolitan Government will allocate 86 billion won for eight libraries, the culture ministry said.

The government plans to boost the total number of public libraries in Korea to 814 in 2011 from 748 in 2010, with the number of public librarians increased to 3,470 in 2011 from 3,258 in 2010.

To improve service quality, the ministry will increase the number of libraries per head of population. It aims to have 62,000 visitors per library in 2011, compared to 68,000 in 2010, the ministry said.

While Korea had 70,000 visitors per library in 2009, the United States had 33,000 and France, 14,000.

The government also aims to increase the number of books available at public libraries to 80 million by 2013.

By Kim Yoon-mi (yoonmi@heraldcorp.com)