Inje library focuses on geneology e-books

By Chung Ah-young

A library is supposed to house a collection of books but for Park Jae-sup, director of the Paik Inje Memorial Library of Inje University in South Gyeongsang Province, it is more than just storing the books.

Park, who attended the 76th World Library and Information Congress in Gothenburg, Sweden last month for the presentation of the Inje Digital Genealogy Library, puts more emphasis on the cultural role of a library. “When I toured the European countries, particularly the Baltic States, I always saw the phrase ‘think culture’ as they are trying to break the barriers of the limited and defined roles of museums, libraries and national repositories. In that sense, I think the library should be a threshold for crossing the cultural boundaries in which diverse cultures can be shared and exchanged,” Park said in an interview with The Korea Times.

As both director of the library and a professor of Korean studies, he developed the digitalized records of genealogy, the first of its kind in the nation, collected by the library since 2007, to introduce Korea’s bloodline history and tradition to the world.

In collaboration with the Utah-based organization Family Search, the library has so far digitalized some 600 genealogy books, including Gimhae Kim and Gimhae Heo clans, which are representative family clans in the region, among the 2,300 books. The plan is to finish making e-books of the rest of the collection.

“There is no such family record equivalent to Korea’s genealogy in the world. What amazed many participants was the fact that there was not so much the digitalization of the genealogy but the genealogy itself. They showed great interest in how Korea has kept such a tradition of comprehensively documenting the family history for such a long time. We should be proud of our cultural heritage,” he said.

While exchanging ideas with the world’s librarians and intellectuals at the congress, he reaffirmed that the future of the library lies in the cultural functions and blurred boundaries of time and space.

The library has operated numerous cultural programs such as art exhibitions and experience events to display diverse cultures from other countries. From Japan, India and Mongolia to Sweden, the institution has offered various cultural opportunities to the local community.

“Our library is located in a provincial area with fewer cultural benefits compared to other institutions in Seoul. So we are trying to provide special cultural programs for our residents, particularly children, who have fewer opportunities to explore other cultures through the foreign cultural events in association with the embassies in Korea,” he said.

The director said, however, the cultural programs should lead to human exchanges with the countries. For instance, after holding a cultural program related to Sweden, five Swedish students came to study at the university.

For the successful cultural programs, the library received an award from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in 2008, the highest honor among libraries.

On the one hand, the library is blurring the boundaries of space by bringing foreign cultures to the organization. On the other hand, it is breaking the barriers of time by preserving tradition and reinventing it with modern tastes such as the e-books of the genealogy.

The library is seeking to keep the genealogy and even folk songs as part of the traditional heritages of Korea. The institution is currently collecting oral records from folk singers around Gimhae. “In addition to preserving the cultural heritages, the transmission is also important. So we want the records of the regional folk songs to be used as educational tools for children,” he said.

The director added that many people wonder why the library should have these ambitions but he thinks it is precisely the new role the library should take in the global era and to attract more visitors.

“I believe it’s the new direction that the library should go to become truly global.”