• Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.21-46
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• 2016

The purpose of this article is to discuss about the progress and problems in Korean public library policies. The emphasis is on identifying both distinctive features and indigenous limitations in Korean Library Act and National Plans for Library Development. This article also investigates the current status and weakness of major policy driving forces such as national library policy committee(President's Committee on Library and Information Policy), administrative support organization, and professional associations. Finally suggested are both strategies and methods for promoting the quality of Korean public library policies, with focusing on enhancing public librarians' capacity of policy participation.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
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• v.10
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• pp.39-70
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• 1983

The concept of the public library defined by the Korean Library Association does not describe the current state of the Korean public library but describes the public libraries in the western society. Korean public library was formed after the western public library but it was modified and reconciled with the tradition of Korea. The difference between the concepts occured in the acculturation process of the Korean public library. According to the International Encyclopeadia of the Social Sciences, acculturation comprehends those phenomena which result when groups of individuals having different cultures come into continuous firsthand contact, with subsequent changes in the original cultural patterns of either of both groups. Korea opened its door to western world in 1876, and it began to contact with the western world. As the consequence, the concept of the public library of the West diffused to Lee Dynasty which were characterized by the confucianism and the extended family system. These two characteristics were against the public library concept and it could not function as it was and it had to be modified to fit to Korean society. The American public library was formed by the diffusion of English public library. The concept fitted in the colonial American society which was characterized by the Christianity and nuclear family system. Religion and family life were closely knitted together and they contributed much to the formation of the American public library. Also the society needed various information to form their new nation. The need of the public library grew and the public library repidly developed as the American society was urbanized and industrialized. The changes of Korean public library has passed the following process of acculturation. 1. The Korean culture contacted with Western world. 2. The public library concept diffused to Korea, but the people were illiterate and the need of the public library was for the preservation of the old books. The collection was not for people. 3. The function of the public library in Korea was altered slightly as several intellectuals who formed the first modern public library tried to literate Koreans as a means of liberation :from Japan through the library service. 4. The traditional libraries such as sodandg and hyangyo disorganized and finally disappeared as the traditional elements of the culture disappeared and the new cultural elements prevailed in Korea. 5. When the traditional elements of culture were disorganized, a reinterpretation of the diffused culture appeared. With the appearance of the vouth group which was not existed in the traditional society, cultural facilities for them were needed. They began to use public library as their reading rooms. This pattern has been institutionalized ever since in Korean public library. 6. When the new element of the culture spread, the traditional cultural elements react against this element. As the new public libraries sprung out, there were movements to restore the old Korean tradition of the family libraries and Hyangyo to counteract to the new libraries. This movements were not successful and they all disappeared as they could not keep up the rapid social change occurred in the Korean society. 7. In the process of the cultral change, cultural lag occurred between the public library and the users who could not adopt to the new library. This has been continued to the present time. 8. This diffused concept of the public library was modified and became native to Korean society. However, the acculturation of the public library concept has not changed the traditional ideas of Korean people and their behavior. The Korean society recently has been changing rapidly and the function of the Korean public library is improving accordingly; 1. The extended Korean family system is disorganizing. As the consequence, the public library could substitute the family system offering information and recreation service, etc. 2. The growth of educated population is requiring a variety of library materials. An individual library can not meet the needs of them and cooperative library service will be needed to share resources. The public library will become the center of the cooperative service. 3. The Koreans are watching TV more hours than they read printed materials. For them, the public library needs to collect audiovisual materials. Especially the teaching materials should be all audiovisualized for the effective teaching. 4. Technology is developing rapidly in Korea, especially computer technology is applied in many parts of the society. This will also influence library service. The public library will be developing as the centralized library computer system. When the Korean public library functions as the extended family system and the center of the cooperative library system, the Korean public library will be functioning as the public library defined by the Korean Library Association.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
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• v.23
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• pp.263-301
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• 1992

In recent years, Korean public libraries, placed under changing circumstances, require that some new and positive financial policies be formulated for the improvement of their services. T he purpose of this study is to propose a scheme to ensure the revenues of Korean public libraries. The main contents of this study are as follows : (1) Public finance theory is applied to the question of why the public library is publicly supported. The public library does not contribute to stabilization, but it does playa role in each of the other public sector functions : allocation of resources and redistribution of income. In public finance terms there is justification for at least partial subsidy of public library services, which have the attributes of public goods, merit goods and externalities. (2) Public libraries in Korea find themselves suffering from limited budgets. They are neglected in national and local budgets. The lack of adequate funding for library collections prevents libraries from rendering efficient services. (3) In order to put the finances of the Korean public library system on a firm basis, the following proposals are made: 1) It is proposed that the parallel administration under which public libraries are organized be unified to be directly under the local governments. 2) It is proposed that the legislative and administrative system for public library finance be strengthened. (1) Library expenses should be itemized independently in the calculation of general grants-in-aid to local governments. (2) A fixed portion of the total municipal revenue should be appropriated for public library services. It can be executed by making provisions expressly in the annual guidelines for budgeting, municipal ordinances, or in the Library Promotion Law. The rate of allocation should be specified as a part of the national public library development plan. (3) Library tax as a local tax can be imposed. An indirect tax is preferable in order to avoid public misunderstanding and antagonism. 3) The augmentation of the specific grants-in-aid for the public library is proposed. The Library Promotion Law and the Law on Budget and Administration of Grants should be amended to oblige the central government to give financial assistance to local public libraries. 4) It is proposed that strategies to encourage private endowments be worked out. Revision of the Law on Tax Reduction and Exemption and the activation of an advisory library committee at each public library are recommended. 5) Funding and utilization of the envisioned Library Promotion Foundation is proposed. Government contributions, contributions from the Culture and Arts Foundation, and donations from individuals, corporations, and enterprises can be considered as the financial resources of the Foundation. 6) It is proposed that the structure of the Korean Library Association be consolidated to exercise greater influence over the formation of national policy on the public library system. 7) It is proposed as an ultimate guarantee of the health of the public libraries that the citizenry be educated to strongly support library services in responce to the active services provided by the public libraries.

• Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.285-307
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• 2005

This study is an attempt to encourage the establishment of Friends groups in Korean public libraries and to provide library staff and local people some details on how friends groups were being developed in public libraries in other countries. friends groups can be established by those who are library volunteers and are willing to support their library. Public library personnel and particularly the Korean Library Association play an important role in initiating and operating Friends groups in Korean public libraries.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.73-87
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• 2002

Public library statistics can be a useful tool for measuring public library resources and services and also supporting management process including planning and policy development. This study attempts to present an advanced national public library statistics system to report accurate description of public library situation. Main user groups and useful areas of public library statistics were identified through literature review, and the emerging trends of public library statistics systems at the national and international levels were summarized. Current public library statistics system, annually collected and published by the Korean Library Association, was analyzed and ways for the improvement were suggested particularly in the aspects of validity, reliability, consistency, currency, and utility.

• Journal of Korean Library and Information Science Society
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.23-40
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• 2004

The purpose of this paper is to overview the administrative system and legislation of Russia's libraries with priority given to public library. After the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia began to set up a new political, legal, and economic system. Russia has about 51,000 public libraries. Most towns and large villages have a public library As a rule, public libraries are unified in centralized systems coincident in their location with administrative regions. The great majority of public libraries are part of a network subordinated to the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. Library legislation is an important guarantee of the success of library service. Two definitive federal laws were enacted in 1994, Library Law and Legal Deposit Copy Law. In 2001, the Russian Library Association adopted the Model Standard for Public Library. It has a recommendatory character and it is addressed to both librarians and local authorities.

• The Journal of Sustainable Design and Educational Environment Research
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2008

Gyeonggi Province is trying to increase the number of public libraries from 100 as of December, 2006 to 150 in 2010. However most of existing public libraries preferred mid-to-large scale libraries, so they were restricted to be located in around a zone of life. For this reason most local residents have been excluded from right to use libraries and have difficulties to get library services for the knowledge and information society of the 21st century. The alternative to the small library is a school library. Both schools and public libraries are located in around a zone of life because residents can get an access to them easily. First, considering that small-scale public libraries of communities usually service about 10,000-20,000 people, I estimate that an open-style school library services 24class, 840people (24class*35people) of elementary school by 2003 Korean Library Standard (edited by Korean Library Association). Second, it requires systematic protection policies so that the open-style school of library can function as a local public library and a part of library cooperation system in accordance with local plans. All the open-style school libraries don't intend to open and we had better consider the suitable service areas. Third, it's desired for the management efficiency that the open-style school libraries being established afterward are divided into a branch-scale, a hall-scale and so on, not being uniform management model. And it also needs that one of them in the area enlarges the scale, and then supports other school libraries. According to these results of the research, as cooperation between the public library policy of a local government and school library policy, it needs a systematic support.

• KLA journal
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• v.33 no.2 s.273
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• pp.27-37
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• 1992

본고는 Bob Usherwood의 The Public Library as Public Knowledge(London, The Library Association, 1989)의 'Part Three The Economic Context'를 번역한 것이다. 본고에 제시된 내용은 영국을 배경으로 하면서도, 공공도서관에 대한 새롭고도 독특한 시각으로서 공공도서관의 경제적 문제에 대하여 중요한 견해를 제시하고 있다. <역자주>

• Journal of the Korea Furniture Society
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.428-438
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• 2008

Through this study, I developed a new-styled desk for public reading in library in consideration of the characteristics of the company "KIFURS Co., Ltd." established and branded by a part of the members of the association 'Gyeonggi-Incheon Furniture Industry Cooperative', in the background of growing library-furniture market situation according to the government policy and the related participations of competitive companies. The differentially designed product was herein presented by introducing the function of office furniture and related material, by giving the existing product some improvements on the basis of the domestic and international data searching. The characteristic of the developed product is that the basic structure of the desk for public reading is easy to assemble & disassemble and also variable to be extended & modified. This basic structure is available to be mass production and to be pricewise through using aluminum. Furthermore it can be used as other library-furniture and office furniture, too. Also the luxury image was pursued by modern shape and different material, unlike the existing library-furniture.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.271-287
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• 2017

This study aims to conduct a big data analysis of public library operations and uses of 16 metropolitan local government of Korea by using the Chernoff face method. This study is the first to use the Chernoff face method for big data analysis of library services in library and information research. The association of variables and human facial features was decided by survey. The study reveals that in general the provincial governments in Korea operate more libraries, invest more budgets, allocate more staff and hold more collections than metropolitan cities. This administration resulted in more use of libraries in provincial governments than metropolitan cities.