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A Small Library Making Big Changes: A Case Study of the Baramsup Library

Yong Ju Jung (University of Oklahoma, USA)

How Public Libraries Build Sustainable Communities in the 21st Century

ISBN: 978-1-80382-436-9, eISBN: 978-1-80382-435-2

Publication date: 8 September 2023

Abstract

How rural libraries influence their communities’ development is shown in a number of studies, and many of those rural libraries have focused on their roles in increasing the accessibility of technology for their local community. However, few focused on how rural libraries are immersed in their surrounding natural environment to empower the community members’ learning about and with nature. Also, there have been rare examples of rural libraries that support not only their local community but also another country’s sustainable development. The Baramsup Picturebook Library, located in a rural area in South Korea, is an exemplary case because it has provided a large range of programming and services for diverse groups of people (i.e., from children to older adults) from diverse levels of communities – from the local communities around the library to the global communities of a developing country, Laos. Through qualitative content analysis of an interview with the library’s director as well as their official blog and articles and reports from magazines, this chapter presents a case study of this library. The library’s services and programs are demonstrated under three themes: (1) rural, local communities: cultivating the book culture; (2) local and regional communities: empowering children’s ecological sensitivity; (3) with global communities: building school libraries for children in Laos. This case study of the Baramsup Picturebook Library provides conceptual and practical insights into how rural and small libraries initiate changes in people and communities, thereby impacting sustainable social changes in larger communities.

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Acknowledgements

Acknowledgment

The author fully appreciates the director, Jeehye Choi, and staff members from the Baramsup Picturebook Library for providing resources, participating in an interview as well as making a better world with picture books.

Citation

Jung, Y.J. (2023), "A Small Library Making Big Changes: A Case Study of the Baramsup Library", Williams-Cockfield, K.C. and Mehra, B. (Ed.) How Public Libraries Build Sustainable Communities in the 21st Century (Advances in Librarianship, Vol. 53), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 185-195. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0065-283020230000053017

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2023 Yong Ju Jung