The minilibraries of Gwanak-gu District come into the spotlight during the first UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities conference. Gwanak-gu District Mayor Yoo Jong-pil (seated, second from right) attends the conference in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, on Nov. 15 and 16.
The first UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC) conference was held in Hangzhou, the capital of Zhejiang Province in China, on Nov. 15.
The GNLC was established by UNESCO in 2015 to form a cooperation system among “learning cities” around the world. It’s the first global meeting co-hosted by the UNESCO GNLC and by the National Commission of the People’s Republic of China for UNESCO.
During the two-day meeting on Nov. 15 and 16, under the theme of “the sustainability of learning cities,” member cities from 19 countries exchanged a variety of information. Gwanak-gu District Mayor Yoo Jong-pil made a presentation on his district’s integrated network of small libraries and how they act as a base for life-long learning.
In a session titled “Effective use of Information and Communications Technology for the Development of Learning Cities,” the district mayor put an emphasis on the role small libraries play as learning facilities that aid life-long learning. He introduced the libraries’ book delivery system run by Gwanak-gu District where readers can request their books online using a library app and get the book delivered to any one of many designated pick-up and drop-off kiosks.
In 2009, the district increased the number of libraries there up to 43, starting from only five, and formed an integrated library network that could provide the book delivery service. Over the past five years, the number of library users increased by 217 percent, from 73,000 to 159,000, and the number of borrowed books rose by 196 percent, from 430,000 to 940,000. Finally, the number of books borrowed and returned through the book delivery service topped 360,000 in 2015.
By Wi Tack-whan, Yoon Ji-hye
Korea.net Staff Writers
Photo: Gwanak-gu
whan23@korea.kr
