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The Soul of Seoul: Libraries, Literacy, and Learning
Carol Berndt
On our final day in South Korea, we decided to walk Seoul’ s pleasant downtown streets from bustling Myeong-dong shopping district to City Hall and Seoul Plaza, where we encountered a sight so unexpected that we giggled with delight.
Seoul Plaza is the traditional heart of the city, a large historical and political centre known as the site of significant social protests. It fronts Seoul’ s modern glass city hall, with its indoor vertical gardens, and the Seoul Metropolitan Library, a modern conversion of a historical government building constructed during Japanese occupation. On that day the plaza had been transformed into an outdoor public library, with beanbag sofas and chairs, bubble cabins, and stools emblazoned with the logo“ Seoul My Soul.” Dozens of bins of books, arranged by age group and topic, attract groups of teenagers, parents reading to their children,
and curious onlookers like us. The books featured works by contemporary“ K-Lit” authors, Korean translations of popular international titles, and English materials.
The more than thirty public libraries in Seoul are powerful symbols in a country that is known for its high levels of literacy and its rigorous educational system. They serve as research centres and hubs for study groups and language learning clubs. Koreans are particularly proud of their unique writing
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