On the 23rd, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism held the “2025 Regional Representative Library Directors Meeting” at the National Library of Korea. In this meeting, the directors from 17 regional representative libraries, including the Seoul Library, gathered to discuss this year’s library policy issues.
Regional representative libraries play a central role in establishing and implementing library policies and services within their respective areas. The meeting focused on sharing the current status of public library registrations following the amendment of the “Library Act” in December 2022, and discussing improvements for the successful implementation of the registration system. Additionally, plans related to the “Comprehensive Plan for Library Development (2024-2028)” announced by the Ministry last year were shared, including policy support plans for the regional representative libraries to establish their own mid- to long-term plans (2026-2028).
Song Yoon-seok, the regional culture policy officer at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, stated, “With the consistent increase in the number and usage rate of public libraries, as shown in recent data, the Ministry will continuously work closely with regional representative libraries to enhance public access to libraries and improve service quality. We will spare no policy support to ensure that regional representative libraries contribute to balanced national development and the reduction of cultural disparities between regions.”