Libraries in China. National Library of China

National Library China is the largest library in China. The library was founded in 1909 as the "Metropolitan Teachers' Library" in agreement with the throne and the government of the last Chinese Qing Dynasty. After the Xinhai Revolution of 1911, the "Capital Teachers' Chambers" was renamed Peking University, and the library was transferred to the Ministry of Education in August 1912 and opened to visitors. In 1916, it was entrusted with the functions main library countries. In 1928 the library received the status of the National Library. In December 1998 State Council approved the change of the name of the library to "Zhongguo guojia thushuguan" (National Library of China). In accordance with the Press Law of 1930, the National Library began to register Chinese printed matter, and a special building was built for it a year later. By the time the Chinese People's Republic in the library funds there were at least one and a half million documents.

Current state. The National Library of China is a comprehensive scientific library, the national repository of publications, the national bibliographic center, National Center networks of library-information and scientific-technical libraries and the Development Center.

The total area of ​​the library occupies 170,000 square meters, ranking fifth among the world's libraries. By the end of 2003, the library had a rich collection of 24.1100.000 volumes, and also ranked fifth among the libraries of the world. There were 270,000 volumes in the collection rare books, 1,600,000 volumes of ancient books. As of 2010, the library is housed in three buildings. The main building was completed in 1987. The old building was built in 1931 and was the main building until 1987, now it houses the NLC Ancient Book Library. On September 9, 2008, a new building was put into operation to the north of the Main Building, which has been under construction since 2003 (the authors of the project are Michael Zimmerman, Jurgen Engel). With a total area of ​​more than 80.5 thousand square meters, about 8 thousand readers can be served simultaneously in the new building. Now, together with the new building, the total area of ​​the library is 250,000 square meters. It is only surpassed by the National Libraries of France and the United States. The main building is also called the National Library of China South Area (NLC South Area) and the new building is the National Library of China North Area (NLC North Area).

The library not only has the most large collection Chinese books in the world, but also the largest collection of materials on foreign languages in the country. The library is open to the public 365 days a year, and online services are available 24 hours a day through various means of communication.

The Liaoning Provincial Library is the largest library in Liaoning Province and one of the largest in the Northeast of China. Located in Shenyang, Nanta District. Liaoning Provincial Library - government agency organized at the provincial level, a comprehensive public library.

History of creation. The history of the Liaoning Provincial Library goes back to the PRC Northeast Library, which was established in 1947. On August 15, 1948, it was opened in Harbin (Heilongjiang Province), and in February 1949 it moved to Shenyang.

Changed its name to Liaoning Provincial Library in 1955. It was founded directly by the leadership of the CCP as a "major public library." In 1989, she moved to a new building, the area of ​​buildings and structures is 33 thousand m2.

Current state and activity. Since the end of 1997, reconstruction began, and on August 15, 1998, it officially opened to readers. Over the past 50 years, the library has continuously evolved as a comprehensive public institution. The current collection contains more than 4 million volumes, in more than 10 languages.

Takes part in interlibrary exchange programs with 16 states and territories. The library contains ancient manuscripts (about 560 thousand), especially valuable are the editions of the era of the Song and Yuan dynasties (more than a hundred volumes). Since the library is located in the Northeast of China, it has a unique collection of Manchu documents relating to the Qing Dynasty.

Total service personnel- 260 people. Specialized Departments of the Library - Department of Collection, Subscription and Editing, Department of Reception and Loan, Department of Rare Books and Manuscripts, Department of Periodicals, Department of Information and Consulting, Center electronic publications and Internet, Research Department, etc. The number of seats in the reading rooms is about 1100. In total, the library has 28 reading rooms and specialized auditoriums. The number of visits per day is about 3000 person-times.

Over the past few years, the work of the library team has been invariably celebrated at the level of the party committee, the government of Liaoning province and the leadership of various ministries and departments.

Digital library. Since 1997, the library began work on the creation electronic library, the internal network has been completed, and there is access to Chinanet and the Internet, as well as electronic databases. There is an electronic reading room for periodicals. This makes the part information materials libraries available over the web. In addition, work continues to create its own book depository for the convenience of readers.

Interesting Facts. On the first floor of the library there is an exposition of pieces of furniture that previously belonged to Zhang Xueliang.

Siku Quanshu. The complete collection of books in four sections is a large-scale publishing endeavor in Chinese history. Includes a huge number of Chinese texts, divided into four sections - "Classics" (Chinese literary canon), "History" (historical and geographical treatises), "Masters" (philosophy, art, science), "Collections" (anthologies of Chinese literature) .

The initiator of the creation of the Qing imperial library is Qianlong, who in 1773 instructed 361 scholars to sort out "10,000 books" on Chinese in order to identify and destroy anti-Manchurian texts, and include the rest in his personal library. It was a project designed to surpass the compilation of the legendary Yongle Encyclopedia in its scope.

When the work came to an end in 1782, the Complete Books contained 36,381 volumes, approximately 2,300,000 pages and 800 million characters. Qianlong instructed 3,826 scribes to create four copies of the book collection for the imperial libraries in the Forbidden City, the Old Summer Palace, the Mukden Palace, the Mountain Haven, and three more for public libraries in Hangzhou, Zhenjiang and Yangzhou. Above " Complete collection”, for each library a copy of the imperial encyclopedia of 1725 was made.

Two copies of the Complete Collection were lost during the Taiping Rebellion, another was almost completely burned down during the Second Opium War, and the remaining four were damaged during World War II. The most complete copy of the Siku Quanshu has been preserved in the Forbidden Palace. In 1980, photocopies of it were published in 1500 volumes (currently available on CD-ROM).

The Shanghai Library is the second largest library in China (after the National Library in Beijing). It is located in Shanghai, in a 24-storey building with a height of 106 meters. It is believed to be the tallest library building in the world. The building itself resembles a tower in shape and looks like a giant lighthouse. The library is located on an area of ​​3.1 hectares, and the total area of ​​buildings is 85 thousand m2.

Foundation history. The first library was built in Shanghai in 1847. The library got its first name from the Jesuit mission of Xu Jiahui. In 1925, the Chinese themselves opened the first library, the Shanghai Oriental Library. In 1950, the board of the committee for cultural heritage Shanghai initiated a book collection campaign. A year later, more than 200 thousand books were collected. Many Chinese scholars have made a great contribution to the reconstruction of the Shanghai Library. The committee also began to purchase books from abroad.

Reorganization. The first public municipal library was founded in Shanghai on June 22, 1952. The library funds numbered more than 700 thousand books. In October 1956, the Shanghai Library was merged with the Shanghai Municipal Science and Technology Library, the Shanghai Municipal Library historical documents and the Shanghai Periodical Press Library. Thus, the Shanghai Library has become the second largest public library in China in terms of collections, service and professional expertise.

Current state. In October 1995, the Shanghai Library was merged with the Shanghai Institute of Scientific and Technical Information. It became the first library in China to bring together public resources and high tech(SciTech), allowing you to perform Scientific research in the information field.

At present, the Shanghai Library is the largest public library in China and one of the ten largest libraries in the world. It opened on December 20, 1996.

The National Library of China is the third largest library in the world. The total area of ​​the National Library of China is 25,000 square meters. According to this indicator, this library is second only to libraries located in Washington DC and Paris.

A new building was commissioned for the storage of books and manuscripts. Its total area is approximately 80,000 square meters. The new terminal houses reading rooms, book depositories, an electronic database, as well as expositions of ancient scrolls.

The concept of the building of the new building of the National Library of China was developed by German architects Jürgen Engel and Michael Zimmermann. In their work, they were guided by both Chinese national architectural traditions and the specifics of the future purpose of the building. The result of the work of these masters of their craft exceeded all expectations. The new building resembles something between a traditional Chinese pagoda and a gigantic book volume placed on a stand.

The new pavilion is able to serve up to 8,000 visitors every day, while lending out 6,000 books. Owners of laptops within the reading rooms can use wireless communication to read the required information. The volume of available text is two hundred terabytes. The modern building of the National Library will not lose its relevance in the next 30 years.

library building

After the opening of the National Library of China, this building became the third largest in the world in terms of area.

The construction of the new building of the National Library of China lasted from the end of 2004. This construction cost China one billion two hundred and twenty yuan. If translated into dollars, this would be equal to one hundred and eighty million dollars. This building, located in the east of Beijing, is located on an area of ​​eighty and a half thousand meters. In the course of a day, almost eight thousand readers can visit this library, who can receive approximately six hundred thousand books.

In addition, the building of the National Library of China is equipped with four hundred and sixty computers with the help of which you can access the Internet, as well as provide wireless access.

In addition to reading rooms, there are book vaults with special areas for storing manuscripts and ancient books. The library also houses a digital library with two hundred terabytes of information.

The library is also going to open a specialized library cable TV channel, through which lectures and various exhibitions will be shown.

About the library

The National Library of China is a National Bibliographic Center, National Publication Repository, Comprehensive Science Library, Development Center, National Science, Technology and Library Information Libraries Network Center. The total area of ​​the library is one hundred and seventy thousand square meters and ranks fifth among the world's libraries. By 2003, the National Library of China ranked fifth in the world, and also had a colossal collection of books, which consisted of two hundred and forty-one million one hundred thousand volumes. The library collection included 1,600,000 volumes of ancient books, as well as 270,000 volumes of rare books.

The library for 2010 is located in three buildings. The first building was built in 1987. The old library building was the main building until 1987; it was built in 1931. Now, it houses the department of ancient books of the library. To the north of the Main Building, a new library building was put into operation on September 9, 2008.
The authors of the project were Jurgen Engel and Michael Zimmermann. The new building can simultaneously serve about 8,000 readers, with an area of ​​more than 80,500 square meters. Now the total area of ​​the library, including the new building, is 250,000 square meters. In terms of area, only the National Libraries of the USA and France are ahead of it. The new building was named the "North Part of the National Library of China" and the Main Building was named the "South Part of the National Library of China".

The National Library of China has the largest collection of foreign language materials in the country, as well as the largest collection of Chinese books in the world.

Exhibition of traditional New Year's drawings in the library

An exhibition of traditional New Year drawings was held at the National Library of China. For many years they were one of the main attributes of the Spring Festival, however, now their popularity is gradually declining. As art historians say, New Year's drawing is on the verge of extinction.

The exhibition featured 120 New Year's drawings. They were carefully selected from 4 thousand works. Some exhibits are more than a hundred years old, but they still look bright and fresh. Images give visitors a complete picture of different eras Oh.
Previously, such drawings could be seen in almost every Chinese house on the holiday of Spring. People believed in them magic power. It is believed that such images protect the house and its inhabitants from harm and bring happiness.

"These are the guardians of houses. Amulets. At the entrance to the dwelling they hang images of warriors with weapons in their hands. They do not allow evil spirits to enter the house. They protect it. Pictures inside the room bring good luck and prosperity."

The main themes of New Year's drawings - folklore stories, characters of legends, as well as pictures of human life from different eras. Even during the reign of the Qing Dynasty, some regions of China began to be considered the main producers of New Year's drawings. These are, first of all, Yangliuqing County of Tianqin City and Zhuxian County of Henan Province.

Wang Haixia, director of the center folk art at the Chinese Institute of Arts:

"Yangliuqing county has more than a thousand workshops for the production of New Year's drawings. Thanks to this business, not only the county itself, but also the nearby villages developed over the centuries. Before the Spring Festival, merchants from all over China always came to Yangliuqing for drawings."

Over time, traditional new year drawings lose their importance and popularity. There are fewer masters. Art critics believe that this type of creativity is on the verge of extinction. The state is trying to support this direction of art. Masters, owners of traditional technique New Year's drawing, so that visitors can see with their own eyes the process of creating holiday symbols. Artists say that now New Year's drawings in everyday life are a rarity. Mostly they are bought by collectors, moreover, for good money.

China.
The earliest evidence of Chinese libraries dates back to the Shang Dynasty (1040 BC). At that time, they were collections of oracle bones, tortoise shells and shells. If we consider these libraries from the modern classification, then we will see a typical branch library on magic and predictions a la Hogwarts.

Flipping in the imagination 800 years forward through the chapters of history, we will find ourselves in the time of the first Chinese emperor (220 BC), who not only became famous for the Great Chinese wall and the unification of the Celestial Empire, but also a general audit of library funds in their state. The emperor was ardent and prudent: in order for the young country to avoid a subsequent possible split, he ordered that all books "interfering with the foundations of the state and undermining its integrity" be burned. However, at the same time, two copies of the burnt works were to be included in the emperor's personal library. Apparently, only the Son of Heaven was supposed to have access to forbidden information. Be that as it may, this deed could not save Qin Shi Huang's empire from an early collapse, as soon as the body of the emperor found himself in the tomb under the protection of the terracotta army. However, some scientists consider the episode with the total cleansing of funds to be legendary and not having reliable grounds.
Among the librarians of the next dynasty, the Han (206 BC - 220 AD), it is worth noting Liu Xiang (80 BC), who prepared the first Chinese bibliography, and his son Liu Xin, who created the first catalog of the imperial library. (portrait of Liu Xiang)

For many centuries to come, Chinese libraries were quite busy business as usual- were created, assembled, developed, and then burned, destroyed or optimized. The change of dynasties was especially painful for libraries - it is difficult to survive in the flames of another struggle for power ...
18th century - the heyday of the librarianship of the Celestial Empire. Emperor Hongli (photo) (also known as Qianlong), belonging to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, ordered the construction of the first National Library, which was given access to scholars. Students have an official opportunity to work in private and monastic libraries. However, not everything was so happy: censorship flourished, fires of objectionable books blazed regularly. From 1774 to 1784, more than 2.3 thousand publications were completely banned, and 342 were partially banned. In 1774-1782, they were burned with noticeable regularity 24 times: during this period, almost 14 thousand books were thrown into the fire. Particularly curious is the category of books "not worthy of attention", but not subject to burning. They were not recommended to be read, studied, published, used in teaching activities. Also, this time was famous for the fight against “immoral” literature, which included many masterpieces of Chinese classical literature, various works of folklore ... Well, they give with one hand, they take away with the other: the usual practice of sovereigns. (photo of Hongli's portrait)

In the Russian revolutionary year of 1905, the first public library was opened in China in the city of Hunan.
The "great helmsman" Mao Zedong, as well as the last Chinese emperor Pu Yi - each at one time worked in the library field. In 1918, Mao Zedong took a job as an assistant librarian at the Peking University Library, where he worked under Li Dazhao, head librarian and prominent Chinese Marxist. The last Chinese emperor, Pu Yi, after serving time in a Chinese prison and being released in 1954, worked as an archivist at the Chinese National Library. The library as the alpha and omega of a political career.
As you can see, the Chinese library tradition is as old as the Middle Empire itself.
But let's leave the past to historians. Modern China is dynamism, speed, risky projects on the verge of the possible, dizzying scale. Deep roots allow abundant fruiting modern ideas. Libraries are by no means excluded from the realm of Chinese progress. Often they set the tone for design, technology and progressive approaches. In order not to be unfounded - I will give a few examples.
Guangzhou City Library (the third largest city in China) boasts with total area about 100,000 m2 and a collection that includes about 4 million books. Main Feature of this library is that it gives visitors direct access to shelves with 3.5 million books waiting to be read, making it the world's largest open public library. At the center of the building is an atrium that crosses the building from east to west. This atrium provides sunlight on each of the floors, and also serves as natural ventilation. (Photo by Guangzhou Library)




Architects in China have realized the concept of an unusual library in which hardly anything will distract visitors from a leisurely and focused acquaintance with books. The fact is that the Sanlian Public Library is located far from noisy highways and crowded streets, namely on a deserted sandy shore near the city of Qinhuangdao. Just a few meters from its walls is the sea - you can admire it from the windows reading room. The building, which has already earned the title of "China's loneliest library", has no roads leading to it - it can only be reached on foot. (Photo by Sanlian Library)

A certain urban and architectural curiosity, like a concrete mirage, appears in all its beautiful desolation the city of Ordos, the region of Inner Mongolia. In a city of 1 million inhabitants, with a fully developed infrastructure, in currently no more than 30,000 people live. City Library was also built for the theoretical number of inhabitants, but to this day it is only a ghost of an unfulfilled possibility. A library without readers, books and meaning. Visual proof that it is not the walls that make the library alive. (photo of the Ordos library)




Let's move on from mega-objects to more modest, but no less interesting projects.This hutong (traditional Chinese multi-house development) is located in quiet place one kilometer from Tiananmen Square in the center of Beijing. Residents - neighbors made for their children a small library of 9 square meters and a space for play and creative self-realization. We tried to fit all the innovations into the existing environment as much as possible, because the houses around are about 300 years old. (photo of hutong library)





Japan.
We will begin our story about the libraries of Japan with a small digression. In front of you is a statue of Kinjiro, a 19th century boy from a remote village. A bundle of firewood is behind her shoulders, and a book is in her hands. Every student in the country rising sun knows that this boy read a lot and studied to be a respected learned man. As always in such stories, the facts of the biography are supplemented by romantic details of implicit eyewitnesses and distant descendants, but this does not make the fact worse.
There are a lot of sculptures of Kinjiro in Japan. This one stands in the center of Tokyo, near a bookstore: it subtly hints that any peasant boy can become respected, rich and famous if he reads (statue of Kinjiro)

The man who created the first library in Japan was Umayado no Oji,known as Prince Shotoku. Horuji Castle in Nara Province is considered oldest library in Japan. The time of foundation is the beginning of the 7th century AD. The prince also has the honor of being the first Japanese writer and show off on a bill of 10,000 yen. (photo of Prince Shitoku and Horuji Castle)



The National Library of Japan, Zushoryo, began its existence in 702 AD. She was responsible for the collection and preservation of Buddhist Confucian books, and also led official history states. In today's times, it was a kind of library and publishing complex, which included a large staff: 4 paper makers, 10 brush makers and 20 text copiers. Also, the library had its own charter, which stipulated the procedure for processing, storing, copying and issuing books. Unfortunately, in 833 many library buildings were destroyed by fire. Zushoryo functioned until the beginning of the 11th century, when another fire element completed the destruction.
Prior to the reign of the Togugawa shogunate, libraries in Japan were represented by monastic and private collections of samurai, sometimes quite extensive. For example, Kanazawa's samurai library in 1275 included about 7,000 manuscripts and 20,000 ancient books. (In the photo: the entrance to the Kanazawa Library)


Tokugawa Ieyasu, the first shogun of Japan from the Tokugawa family, ordered in 1601 to build a personal library on the territory of his castle in Edo, which was done. He personally searched for valuable books for his library, including in it all possible collections of books. In particular, Kanazawa's library was "merged" into Ieyasu's library. Private libraries have not lost their relevance either. For example, the private collection of the Japanese scholar Hayashi Razan (1583-1657) later became the core of the Tokyo Imperial University library.
During the Meiji Restoration (1868-1912), life accelerated and the process of modernization went by leaps and bounds. Such Japanese librarians as Tanaka Fujimaro began to develop a network of public libraries, focusing on the experience European countries which they received during their travels. In 1872 the first modern public libraries were built in Kyoto and Tokyo. Laws were passed that provided the legal and economic basis for the creation of libraries for informed citizens. Twenty years later, in 1892, the Japan Library Association was formed. The first journal of librarianship "Toshoran zasshi" was released in 1907. (photo by Tanaka Fujimaro)

Reign of Emperor Taishō (1912 - 1926) can be considered a library renaissance. Hundreds of local and regional libraries were built, thus laying the foundation for modern library system. Unfortunately, like any rise, it could not continue indefinitely: the beginning of the 2nd World War served as an impetus for the closure of many libraries, since the financial priorities of the state were directed to the military channel, and an independently thinking soldier is a potentially dangerous thing.
By 1990 Japan had about 44,700 libraries. including one national library (Japan Diet Library). 1,600 public libraries, 900 university libraries, 2,200 specialized libraries and 40,000 school libraries.
One of the most conceptually designed libraries in the world is the Hiroshima Children's Library. With its appearance, it resembles a stylized atomic mushroom, under which an atmosphere of calm and peace reigns. These photos were taken 10 years after the bombing. Adults thought about the future of children. As of today, this library has been dismantled. Perhaps the design was too radical and evoked unpleasant associations. (photo of the Hiroshima library).




One of the library attractions of Japan are small bunko (libraries). Like thousands of islands of reading, they are scattered throughout the prefectures, small and large settlements. These libraries are usually created on the initiative of the residents of the area when there is a need for such a place. There is a certain evanescence to them - it can be created in a few weeks in the corner of a room, in an empty supermarket, in a temple, but it can just as easily disappear.
Similar bunkos are paid. They are not on the balance sheet of the state, but each user monthly gives a small amount for its maintenance, usually 1-2 dollars. Bunko are diverse: some work only one day a week, while others work seven days a week, they have at their disposal a fund of 100 to 10,000 books. These libraries are very individual, each of them has its own identity, and you will never meet two libraries that are absolutely similar both in design and in the style of work.
The service and forms of work in the "bunko" are reminiscent of the children's departments of public libraries: lending books at home, reading aloud, discussing what they have read, puppet shows... Volunteer librarians usually work, 90% of whom are women. Most of these women are housewives or work part-time. Some bunko women are masters of storytelling.
Research has shown that the very first "bunko" appeared in 1906, and was created by the children's writer and librarian Kasui Takenuki. Bunko was opened at his home in Ioma, Tokyo. (photo of a small bunko)




One of the most beautiful, cozy and spacious libraries in the world - Library International University Akita, Japan. It was built in 2008 and its design resembles the Roman Colosseum. She has a few more distinguishing features that makes it unique: it operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year (only for students and faculty), for which it is called the “Sleepless Library” in Japan. However, any resident of Akita can visit this library, except for nights, weekends and public holidays. Second design. The structure is made of natural natural material Japanese cedar and in appearance resembles a traditional Japanese umbrella. The light smell of cedar, which is invisibly present in the air, relaxes and sets a person in a calm mood. Teaching does not tolerate fuss.
Akita Library organically combines ancient traditions and advanced technologies. To date, its funds are about 75,000 books and more than 200 newspapers. Books in foreign languages ​​make up about 60 percent of the fund: this is useful for foreign students, as well as for Japanese students themselves who specialize in any language. (Akita library photo)

P.S.
According to the testimony of A. Meshcheryakov, an excellent modern Japanologist, which he voiced at the meeting “Natural disasters and the formation Japanese character”, in the technically advanced Land of the Rising Sun, paper books have by no means gone out of use, and modern readers have not become as widespread as in Europe and America. In his opinion, this happened because Japan has a different, deeper and more sacred attitude towards paper than we do. For a European, paper is a writing utensil, a book, at most - a means of hygiene. For the Japanese, this is paper walls houses, and clothes, and traditional partitions, and fans, as well as dozens and hundreds of other things and household items. The culture of communication with paper is immeasurably deeper and more ancient; it permeates the life of generations of the Japanese. And for them to refuse a paper book is outside the framework of culture. From myself, I would also add my thoughts: in Japanese etiquette, tactility fades into the background. Bows, gestures, closed ceremonial etiquette. In this case, the paper in general and paper book in particular, it acts as a kind of intermediary between people, silent, correct and warm.

Korea
The Land of Morning Calm also has a long library history. The first royal library was founded by the ruler of the state of Silla, named Sin Mun in 682 AD.After the unification of Korea under the auspices of the Goryeo dynasty (918-1392), important prerequisites were formed for the growth of libraries. National politics was aimed at increasing the royal library, and the national archive also began its work. In the same way, monastic libraries traditionally developed with Buddhist texts and private book collections. The Mongol invasions of the 13th century CE gave rise to the practice of duplicating and rewriting texts so that books would be better preserved during foreign invasions.
Speaking about the libraries of Korea, it is impossible not to mention the Tripitaka Koreana, which contains 81,340 thousand wooden cliche boards carved from 1236 to 1251 and preserved to this day in the Haeinsa monastery. Each wooden tablet is 70 centimeters wide and 24 centimeters long and varies in thickness from 2.6 to 4 centimeters. The weight of one plate is from three to four kilograms. So that the boards do not warp and rot, they were subjected to special treatment: the logs were first kept for three years in sea ​​water, then sawn into blocks, boiled in salt water and dried in the air in the shade. Dried boards were planed and marked with text for cutting. They contain almost 52.4 million elegant hieroglyphic instructions for monks, conversations with the Buddha and comments on the sutras. And although about 30 scribes participated in this work, all the hieroglyphs look like they were written by one hand. (pictured is Haeins Temple and Tripitaka Koreana)

An important milestone in librarianship was the invention in l446 of a new Korean alphabet, Hangul. Sejong the Great, the ruler of the state of Goryeo, together with a group of scholars presented a simple script as a gift to his people, instead of complex ones. Chinese characters. The most famous and only surviving royal library of the Joseon Dynasty - Gye-Jang-Gag, founded in 1776. The logical structure of the library was represented by four broad sections: classic literature, history, philosophy and general knowledge. (library photo)


The prototype of modern public libraries were the libraries of the Japanese who lived in Korea at the beginning of the 20th century. However, after the colonization of Korea by the Japanese in 1910, the development of public libraries slowed down. This was due to the fact that a restriction was introduced on the use of the Korean language and script. All publications in Korean were also banned, especially reference and scientific publications.
After the end of World War II, followed by the Korean War in 1953, the history of librarianship on the Korean peninsula was divided along political lines along the 38th parallel. How things stand with libraries in the Juche country is an open question. In any case, they are there for sure. As for capitalist Korea - information is available in open access. In order not to tire readers unnecessarily with the achievements of Korean colleagues, let's turn to dry statistics and compare the figures for 2001 and 2010. The number of public libraries has increased from 436 to 746, school libraries - from 8.101 to 10.937. The number of small libraries has increased from 130 to 3.324! Libraries can be found on the streets, in the subways, in parks...everywhere!
For example, a library recently opened in Seoul that specializes in travel books and maps. On the ground floor there is a themed cafe where visitors can go on a journey with the heroes of their favorite book with a cup of something to their taste. On the second floor - a secluded space for lovers of reading. One of distinctive features of this library are chairs dissimilar to each other, which symbolize cultural differences in different countries peace. Unfortunately, only Hyundai Card holders can use the services of this establishment. (travel library photo)






Small and cozy libraries that have been set up different forms and sizes. Some of them don't even have staff, all service is built on a culture of reader honesty. These points of access to literature also have access to the databases of the libraries of the country, since the speed and availability of the Internet in South Korea- one of the best in the world. Seoul City Hall plans to increase the number of libraries located in or near residential areas to 1,372 by 2030.(photo of small libraries)

In this article, dear reader, only the most general information about history and state of the art library art in the countries described above. The thousand-year-old world of libraries is inexhaustible, it keeps many secrets, mysteries and obvious clues for the future. We just looked at the covers of library volumes in China, Japan and Korea. Magazine "Librarianship" 5, 2017 also brings to your attention an article about children's libraries in Japan.
You can write about your comments and wishes to:arslonga2@ mail. en or on the Facebook page of Germantsev Stanislav. Links to sources are given in the journal "Modern Library".