Abstract

Article 31(1) of the Libraries Act(Act No. 18547), which was completely revised on December 7, 2021, stipulates that “the head of a local government or the superintendent of a city/provincial office of education must formulate a plan for the establishment and operation of a public library in advance and obtain the pre-evaluation of the feasibility of establishing a public library from the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism.” Through the preliminary feasibility evaluation at the construction stage of the public library, it is possible to adjust distribution to improve the adequacy of scale and resolve regional imbalances and gaps. In addition, it is expected to increase service satisfaction and operational enhancement by inducing faithful securing of core infrastructure (librarians, collection, facilities, systems, etc.) in terms of balanced regional development and public library construction. The purpose of this study is to develop and present the basic direction and feasibility evaluation model for establishment of public libraries. The proposed evaluation model is expected to secure the legal basis and institutional legitimacy of the pre-evaluation system for public library establishment and to prevent waste of tax due to poor construction and operation of public libraries.