Fall, and food for thought - The Korea Times

By Kwon Ji-youn

Libraries are no longer the silent, stifling repositories they once were. Spend this fall indulging in a beguiling book at one of the following culturally engaging and innovative libraries, which offer a bountiful harvest of food for thought.

National Library, Sejong

The National Library of Sejong City, a structure recalling a turned over book page, was named one of 50 of the world’s most beautiful libraries. The landmark building was constructed in line with the relocation of central government agencies to the new city from Seoul. The facility boasts a reading room for children, meeting rooms, a café and a restaurant. You also get a stunning view of Sejong Lake from the cozy chairs you can sink into with a good book.

The red phone booths that sparsely populate the library are for answering calls without disturbing others. Kiosks are positioned throughout the city, so if you cannot visit the library to check out books, you can request it online, then pick it up at your nearest kiosk.

Address: 48 Dasom 3-ro, Sejong City

Phone number: 044-900-9114

Opening hours: 9 a.m. - 6 p.m., Monday-Sunday; closed on the second and fourth Monday of each month

Forest of Wisdom

Paju Book City, a publishing village on the northern outskirts of Seoul, is home to the “Forest of Wisdom,” an open cultural space that houses some 200,000 meticulously arranged books.

The Forest is lined with shelves 3.1 kilometers long and eight meters tall, packed with publications of all genres. Sector 1 is filled with books that scholars and researchers have donated, while Sector 2 is stocked with books some 30 prominent publishing companies have provided. E-books can be found in Sector 3.

The Forest is not a library - you don’t need to check the book out to read it, no security guards stand at the door and the ambience is unsuitable for studying. It’s up to you to take a book, read it and replace it in the condition you took it in. But the Forest of Wisdom is accessible to anyone at any time, so guests to the publishing complex may find a visit well worth their time.

Address: 524-3 Munbal-dong, Paju, Gyeonggi Province

Phone number: 031-955-0082

Opening hours: Open 24 hours

Anyang Pavilion

A walk through the Anyang Art Park past a small waterfall leads to a pavilion, a park library filled with books on public art. A round structure sits at the pavilion’s center providing a seating area for readers, and a large shelf filled with books stands to one side. To the other side are wooden cubicles for those who prefer to read at a desk.

The pavilion was designed by architect Alvaro Siza and built in line with the Anyang Public Art Project. Some 1,500 documents are on display at the Anyang Pavilion, which were donated by participants of the Park Library project, ranging from those involved in publishing periodicals to those actually designing and building the library. In one corner is a “Making Lab” where visitors can craft art using three-dimensional printing.

Address: 180 Art Park Road (Yesulgongwon-ro), Manan-gu, Anyang, Gyeonggi Province

Phone number: 031-687-0500

Opening hours: 9 a.m.- 6 p.m., Tuesday-Sunday

Naver Library

At Naver’s Green Factory office building in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, a glass door almost buried in books leads into a spacious athenaeum, where the smell of both old and new books ― with a hint of coffee ― wafts across the alcove from a maze of shelves. It’s quiet, but not too quiet, and the library’s warmth provides a cozy refuge from the autumn chill outside.

From the second floor, guests on the first floor appear to be wandering through a labyrinth, stopping every so often to flip through a book. The library is full of interesting details that recall a forest ― the desks have wooden racks with holes for cups and pencils, and the cubicles have wooden windows that open.

The Naver Library opened to the public in Nov. 2011, and is home to some 250 magazines, some 24,000 books on design and IT, and some 1,300 encyclopedias.

Address: 178-1 Jeongja-dong, Bundang-gu, Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province

Phone number: 1588-3830

Opening hours: 9 a.m.- 9 p.m., Monday-Friday; 10 a.m.- 5 p.m., Saturday-Sunday