A special book donation
By Kim Ji-myung
(0).jpg?w=728)
Do you know what keeps a college professor awake at night as retirement nears? A new lecture position? A plan to write a book? What to do during long, leisurely hours every day? No. The answer is “books.”
Without exception, professors have lived surrounded by shelves packed with books at home and in the office for his or her entire career. Most were bought out of necessity, while many were given by other professors.
Professor friends sometimes surprise me by showing “symptoms of book hatred.” If I buy a book from a museum gift shop, for example, and present it to a friend, he or she will think that I did something unnecessary, wasting money on something of insignificant value. Books, for them, are tools for living.
There are two kinds of people in the world -- those who love books and those who do not. I welcome anything printed on paper. As far as I remember, I have never turned down an offer of a book. Maybe this is because I am not yet fed up with books.
Managing and disposing of books is a daunting challenge to most academics. They have spent many hours either writing or reading books. Their books, heavy and voluminous, often draw complaints from family members. A couple fought because of the husband’s collection of used books, which smelled like a corpse, according to a recent humorous story.
Once, a professor stacked along the wall outside of his office all of his books for students to take as they pleased. His plan was an empty room within six months. He was surprised and shocked to see that not a single student took notice of those “free” gifts.
Likewise, university and public libraries do not welcome book donations. This could mean two things: rapid changes in knowledge and information make books quickly obsolete and/or the professor’s books will fit into no useful or entertaining category.
This is a paperless, digital age. Young people read the morning news on their cell phones. Government documents have also gone digital. Libraries lend digital content, and people access audio or e-books.
Amid this grand trend stands a book donation story that deserves special attention. The hero is Dr. Lee Hyun-jae, former Seoul National University president and prime minister at the time of the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. He also served as the chairman of Samsung Group’s Hoam Foundation. People see him as a scholar of economics, a paragon of academia and a ranking official with integrity.
On December 16, at the dedication ceremony, Lee said, “I chose to donate these books to the Academy of Korean Studies because the school holds a special meaning for me. I served two terms -- six years -- as president. It was the longest career path in my life.” His donated collection is now open to the public on the second floor of the AKS Library, housed in the “Chunpo Library.” The name refers to Dr. Lee’s penname, Chunpo, meaning a spring field.
The collection comprises 6,767 books -- 3,286 Korean, 2,589 Japanese, 78 Chinese and 814 Western. These include many maps, brochures and leaflets of historical value. What impresses me most about these volumes is that each was located, scrutinized, purchased and cared for by Lee.
Airport staff in Korea and Japan became very familiar with the sight of Lee hand-carrying old, fragile books to protect them. His official overseas visits had no itinerary for the first two days; this was his bookstore browsing time. He had a firm principle when collecting books. The only consideration was the objective value of the book as a scholarly work. The inclination of the author, current trends and valuation of others were of no concern. Hence, there are books on communism and others written by pro-Japanese authors. They reveal his deep appreciation for academic merit; not personal preferences.
The books are all original, many of them first editions. The covers and casings were carefully retained, sometimes newly created by Lee if any went missing.
An exhibition of rare books from the Chunpo Library runs until February in the central hall of the AKS Library. Books published in the so-called “Liberation Period,” the few years around the 1945 National Liberation and the 1948 founding of the Republic of Korea, are quite rare, most having been lost during the destruction associated with the 1950-1953 Korean War.
The AKS library staff in charge of this project spent nine months, classifying and cataloging these books. There are more books on history, literature, philosophy and art than economics, which is Lee’s primary field. This may be related to the strict principle he used when selecting books for his collection.
The final, but not least impressive fact concerning Lee’s handpicked collection is that it is a well-prepared gift from a senior scholar to the next generation. Rather than a lump-sum handover of out-of-date materials, it is and will remain well suited to the interests of scholars and students at the Academy of Korean Studies.
The writer is the director of the Korea Heritage Education Institute (K*Heritage). Contact her at heritagekorea21@gmail.com .