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Innovative library program stocks shelves and supports local businesses

source: visitbusan

The Busan Metropolitan Library is expanding its “지역 서점 바로대출 서비스” book program. Unofficially called “Borrow & Build,” this innovative service allows citizens to “borrow” books from local bookstores and help “build” the city’s library collection. The service is available to any resident with a library card or borrower number.

How the service works:

1) Request: Log into the Busan Library website and request books you wish to borrow. Individual users can request up to three books at a time, with a maximum of six per month.

2) Location: Choose a local bookstore to fulfill your request and a local library where you will return the books.

3) Approval: After you apply, the library will review and approve the request based on the books’ value and utility for the public collection. 

4) Pick-up: If approved, pick up the books at the designated bookstore. The books are issued as a loan from the designated library.

5) Return: Return the books to the library within the 15-day loan period. The books are added to the library’s permanent collection.

Borrow & Build positions citizens as curators of the library’s collection while supporting brick-and-mortar bookshops. It has been a win-win program for the city’s library system and local bookshops since its introduction in 2017.

Last year, a total of 14,650 individuals utilized the service, bringing 27,501 new books into the city’s libraries. This innovative approach, which balances user convenience with the revitalization of local bookstores, has been recognized nationwide as a model initiative. In addition, library officials from across the country have been visiting Busan Library to study this successful strategy firsthand. 

※ Borrow & Build

◎ Request books here: Click 

◎ Participating bookstores: Click 

<Today's Vocabulary - 오늘의 단어>

borrow: 빌리다 fulfill: 충족하다 approve: 승인하다 designated: 지정된 permanent: 영구적인

Editor: Song Soomi

Copy Editors: Ryu Hyoseung, Anton J. Mapoy