Following the Seoul Metropolitan Library in Seoul Plaza, a second Seoul municipal library is planned to open in 2027 in Bukgajwa-dong in the Seodaemun District. It will be the first library to open under the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s “library in every district” project aimed at reducing information gaps among districts in the city. In line with the city’s ambitious goal to become a garden city, the library will be nestled alongside the Gajaewul Central Park. It will also deploy the first automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) for a public library in South Korea. An ASRS is a system in which a robot stores and retrieves books for users.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government launched its library-in-every-district project in 2019 as part of its goal to invigorate every corner of the city and to provide shared opportunities for all to enjoy the love of reading.

The ground-breaking ceremony for the library will be held on December 4, according to the city government. The library is named after Kim Byungju, the co-founder of private equity firm MBK Partners Ltd. who donated 30 billion won for the construction of the library (approximately half the total cost).

The ground-breaking ceremony is expected to be attended by over 200 individuals, including Mayor Oh Se-hoon, Mr. Kim, and local residents.

Mr. Kim moved to the United States in his childhood. He explained that while struggling to adapt to the new environment, libraries were a safe haven where he could learn the language and culture of his adopted country.

The library will be built at 479 Bukgajwa-dong in the Seodaemun-gu District as a five-story building with a total floor area of 9,109㎡ (land area: 3,486㎡). The cost of construction is estimated to be 67.5 billion won.

The library will present itself as “a library in the park” and a family-friendly cultural space. The ground floor will feature an outdoor reading space, designed with a pilotis structure open to Gajaewul Central Park. The library will also have a rooftop garden that can serve as a performance space.

The interior of the library will feature a high ceiling (up to five meters) that provides a sense of openness and comfort, as well as comprehensive cultural spaces for families, including a parent zone, a story room, and a cultural space for children. One of the notable features of the library will be the automated storage and retrieval system in which a robot retrieves and delivers a requested book to a user. Users can be entertained by watching the robot work through a glass wall.

Following the construction of the Kim Byungju Library, the city plans to open a series of libraries by 2032, including a public housing-library complex in the southwest region (Sillim-dong in Gwanak-gu District) by 2029 and a library in the northeast region (Jeonnong-dong in Dongdaemun-gu District) by 2030 built mostly with wooden materials that will be about 2.5 times the size of the Seoul Metropolitan Library.

(Source)

https://librarian.nl.go.kr/LI/contents/L30302000000.do?schM=view&id=49651