VOL.75/2024.10

Celebrating 20 Years of Jecheon Miracle Library,
a True Gift to Korea

2024.06.03

In Korea, there is a “Miracle Library,” which is the one and only in the world

In the early 2000s, children were particularly marginalized in Korea, especially in terms of library services. At that time, the “Miracle Library Project” began as a social concern to address the reality of children in our society who, due to poverty, social indifference, other unfortunate conditions, and the misguided greed of adults, were deprived of their right to grow up freely. In other words, the project was born out of the recognition of the need for libraries dedicated to children as the best possible environment for their creative growth by ensuring their right to grow up freely and broadening the equality of opportunity.
The Miracle Library Project, a nationwide initiative to build libraries exclusively for children, was a collaborative effort of citizens’ organizations represented by Citizen Action for Reading, private broadcasters (“Exclamation Mark” on MBC), and local governments to build standard models of buildings, spaces, programs, and operations for the first children’s libraries in Korea, and to support various content and operational programs. In fact, following the construction of the Miracle Library, it has greatly stimulated local governments to start building children’s libraries, which has had a great impact on not only the public’s general interest in libraries but also the country’s library policy.
Since the opening of the first Miracle Library in Suncheon in 2003, there are now 18 Miracle Libraries across the country (Suncheon, Jecheon, Jinhae, Seogwipo, Jeju, Cheongju, Buk-gu in Ulsan, Geumsan, Bupyeong, Jeongeup, Gimhae, Dobong, Gangseo in Busan, Guro, Gongju, Yeoju, Inje, and Jingu in Busan), and they are organized into a nationwide council to maintain solidarity in upholding the objective and spirit of the libraries.

On December 15, 2003, a second “Miracle Library” opened in Jecheon, a small city of 130,000 residents.

 

• Date of opening: 

Dec. 15, 2003

• Location: 

30, Yongducheon-ro, Jecheon-si,
Chungcheongbuk-do

• Size (building area): 

4,895㎡ (1,069.53㎡)

• Type: 

Public library (children’s library)

• Organization in charge of operation: 

 
Book Culture Foundation

 

 

3, 2, 1.
The veil is drawn down, and the overall structure of the library comes into view. This is the moment when the Jecheon Miracle Library was finally introduced to the public.
How long have we been waiting for this day? The aspirations of 130,000 Jecheon citizens for the opening of this library (including the citizens’ campaign to write letters of hope for the library, signing petitions, human-chain banners, and collecting books) were truly incredible. Thanks to all that time and aspiration, we could finally have a second Miracle Library in our area, a very special gift for our children.

 

Photos from the construction process of the Jecheon Miracle Library

Photos of the Citizens Hall plaza, banner attached with letters of hope for the library, and related events

Photos of people participating in a human-chain walking campaign from the Citizens Hall to Uirimji Reservoir

Photo of Jecheon Miracle Library on the opening day with the veil removed
(December 15, 2003)

Miracle Library’s 20-year-old special operating principles and services

Miracle Libraries have a number of operating policies.
First, it must be a “library for 1-year-olds.” It provides a homey feel by having ondol (underfloor heating system) floors, and issues a library card in the baby’s name. The library also supports the “Bookstart” project, which encourages children to become owners of the library from an early age.

Second, it must be a “live library.” A Miracle Library is managed as an “entertaining library” where various cultural and art programs linked with books are held, not just a place for reading books. Representative programs that started at the Miracle Library and expanded nationwide include “Sleepover at the Library,” “Young Librarian,” and the “Opening Celebration Party.”

Third, it is a library co-operated by both the private and public sectors. It runs various channels for the private sector’s direct and active participation in library operations. Local residents of all ages are participating (volunteering, joining the senior club, etc.).

Fourth, it is run using a method where the cost and responsibility for raising children are shared by the local community. For example, it supports pumashi (meaning “taking turns helping each other with laborious work”) childcare through Bookstart.

Fifth, it connects family, school, and library. It is run by creating the “book-reading family” culture and “book-reading classrooms.” For this, the library has been expanding its “outreach service” by cooperating and building solidarity with various institutions within the region.

Miracle Libraries in each region are a library of public-private partnerships that dream and create together with local residents to “operate libraries in a new way and create a new library culture” based on the above operating principles.

20 Years of Jecheon Miracle Library: Records with citizens

When we look back at the history of the Jecheon Miracle Library, which turned 20 years old in 2023, many children have grown into adults. Some who were in the upper grades of elementary school when the library opened have already become parents and visited the library again with their children, while others who were in their mothers’ arms at the time have now grown up. And now, regardless of the passage of time, children are growing up, fully embracing the present, and citizens working for the healthy growth of children are gathering to become library activists, another form of social parenting.
The stories of their growth are being written and archived throughout the library. This is an effort to catch the importance of recording their memories so that the meaning of sharing the library’s developmental history within the life cycle of local residents can be kept alive. To celebrate the library’s 20th anniversary, a group of Teen Honorary Reporters set out to collect records of the many people who have made the library a meaningful space in people’s lives, including their experiences growing up with the library, their happy memories of the library, and their time there. They conducted “The Library and Me” interviews with 20 people with special memories of the library as part of the documentation project, and the library collected free-writing from general users. Through this project, we found that the keywords that represent the Jecheon Miracle Library as remembered by people who have used the library for 20 years were cooperation, solidarity, community, regionality, creativity, playfulness, leisure, and reflection.

10-year-history of Jecheon Miracle Library and a collection of writings in commemoration of its 20th anniversary 10-year-history of Jecheon Bookstart and a photograph collection marking its 15th anniversary     Children’s poem and picture book by one of the Jecheon Miracle Library’s clubs “Chaegdokkebi (meaning ‘book goblin’),” Jecheon Miracle Library’s newsletter     Materials for book-reading activities published by the library Other publications

Miracle Library continues to dream and grow with children today

The children own Miracle Library. This has been the identity of the Jecheon Miracle Library since its opening in 2023. During “Miracle Library”’s 20th anniversary, many children have grown into adolescents and adults, and its services are also expanding. However, the Miracle Library still starts with children’s services to ensure their access to the libraries.

Miracle Library’s growth with the children is not just about running a good library, but it is fundamental to the children’s ability to trust the adult society in which they are born and raised. Children who grow up in the best environment with the best care will trust the adult society and take pride in their hometown, and this pride and trust will give them the confidence and strength to take the initiative to create a good society for themselves. The Miracle Library will continue to do everything in its power to help these children grow up and hope to be a part of their forever home. To fulfill this dream, we will continue to work with local children every day to write their daily growth stories.

Written by Kang Jung-Ah (Director of Jecheon Miracle Library)