‘Ansan Multicultural Small Library’ without Language and Nationality Barriers

 

In 2015, the National Statistical Office reported that the number of multicultural households in the country had reached 299,000; among them, 84,000 households were in Gyeonggi Province with an occupancy rate of 28.1%. Moreover, 10,000 multicultural households are situated in Ansan City, which is called the ‘primary multicultural district,’ recording the highest number amongst cities and counties in Gyeonggi Province.
As the top multicultural locality, the Ansan City Government established a multicultural family support center in 2008, in which the ‘Ansan Multicultural Small Library’ is located on the first floor.

 

■ Collection of 14,000 Foreign Books

The library has a massive collection of over 14,000 foreign books written in the languages of 23 countries – including English, Japanese, Malay, and Indonesian – arranged on the bookshelves.
Deputy Director Jeong Eun-ju stated that the daily number of visitors to the library, which is open from 9:00AM to 6:00PM, is around 90 people on average. More than 90% of them are foreign residents from multicultural families, and two-thirds of them are male. The library’s size is small at around 23 pyeong, but the number of visitors, including regular users, is growing steadily.
 

Deputy Director Jeong is busy every day welcoming people to the library, but the busier she gets, the happier she is. As a tribute to the staff and users of the library, the Ansan Multicultural Small Library won the Excellence Award for small public libraries at the 2016 Korea Small Library Awards.

 

■ United in the Library with Books

When asked how the ‘Ansan Multicultural Small Library’ will grow, Deputy Director Jeong answered that it will become a ‘library without discrimination.’
“I would like to remove the word “Multicultural” from the library name because it already distinguishes immigrants from residents. I hope that residents accept people from foreign countries as neighbors and live together regardless of nationality. Our library is planning to hold more events to promote exchanges between residents and immigrants,” said Deputy Director Jeong.
Though the change that will begin this April at the Ansan Multicultural Small Library may seem small, the library is expected to see greater change in the future.

Source: Gyeonggi G-News