Leslie Weir, president of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), delivers welcoming remarks at the opening ceremony of the 2026 World Library and Information Congress at the BEXCO Auditorium in Haeundae District, Busan, on Aug. 10.YONHAP
Oh Ji-eun
The author is the director of Seoul Metropolitan Library and thr president of the Korean Public Library Association.
Few people know how many public libraries Korea has. The answer is 1,328. That is fewer than the more than 2,000 outlets operated by a major coffee chain and the country’s 3,518 community service centers.
But numbers do not tell the whole story. Coffee shops, driven by profit, are not evenly distributed nationwide, while community centers, though close to residents, close at night and on weekends.
Public libraries are unique as places open to people of all ages, across regions and without restrictions on subject matter. They are a vital public good, fostering personal growth, interest in one’s community and exchanges that connect everyday life with national policy issues.
Their accessibility is clear in the numbers. Public libraries nationwide have about 29.53 million registered members, or 58 percent of the population. Yet most Koreans still see them mainly as cultural facilities where people borrow books.
The same perception persists among policymakers. Many library decision-makers are administrative officials serving through rotational assignments. Their memories of libraries often remain those of quiet study spaces from their student years, making it difficult to break from a narrow framework.
Despite these limitations, public libraries should become core national infrastructure in the AI era, strengthening national competitiveness, citizens’ capabilities and social cohesion. They should serve as AI learning and data hubs using public data, while becoming “AI infrastructure for the public” that helps citizens use generative AI safely.
The problem is that Korea still lacks the governance and implementation system needed for that role. Even when the National Library Committee was under the president, with several ministers serving ex officio, it never meaningfully coordinated cross-ministerial library initiatives. Whether it can overcome that weakness after being reorganized under the prime minister at the end of next month remains uncertain.
The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s library policy unit is a small organization led by a director-level official with only about 10 staff, leaving it stretched in implementing policy. The National Library of Korea, meanwhile, has more than 700 employees but lacks policy implementation authority, confining it largely to practical functions such as legal deposit and librarian training. Authority and capacity are misaligned.
The situation is similar in metropolitan and provincial governments. Because the Libraries Act does not clearly designate responsibility for library policy, functions are often divided between administrative departments and libraries. They should instead be structured around regional needs.
Demographic change, rapid digital transformation, widespread AI use and the worsening climate crisis are fundamentally changing how people work, spend leisure time and access information. Public libraries, rooted in communities nationwide, are the most extensive channel for bringing national policy into citizens’ daily lives. That reach gives libraries an unusual ability to translate broad government goals into practical services that citizens can encounter close to home.
From Aug. 10 to 13, Busan hosted the World Library and Information Congress under the theme “Libraries Powering Transformation.” Held in Korea for the first time since Seoul hosted it in 2006, the gathering built consensus that libraries themselves must change if they are to lead social transformation in the AI era.
The solution is clear. First, the prime minister, as co-chair of the National Library Committee, should ensure the committee functions as a cross-ministerial control tower linking national priorities with library policy.
Second, when the Culture Ministry translates national priorities into library policy, the National Library of Korea should implement them directly, creating a virtuous cycle of planning, execution and feedback.
Third, library policy functions at the regional level should be unified around designated regional central libraries, reflecting wide differences among communities. Their roles should also be strengthened so they can effectively lead local public libraries. All three reforms must work together to maximize their impact.
This would be the first step toward redefining libraries from “cultural facilities that lend books” into “community platforms where national priorities meet citizens’ everyday lives.” Now that some 3,500 library professionals from 111 countries have visited Busan, it is time for Korea to answer that challenge.
This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
