Nowadays, the public library in Korea really falls far behind in the view of carrying out the function of meeting the demands of times and the social change. I think the structural problem such as a budget deficit, the insufficiency of quality and quantity of books, the lack of expert librarians, the irrational management and insufficient installation and facilities are very serious problems. We live in the diversified world where politics, economy, society and culture are changing rapidly. The tremendous progress of learning and technology has made it difficult for us to adapt the rapidly changing society only with the knowledge obtained from school. Therefore, the existence and necessity of the library as a fast and reliable source of an information supplier cannot but be emphasized. The public library in the modern society is asked for not only to play a traditional role of collecting and offering books and information of customers but also to play diverse roles as a community center for improving community culture and lifelong education.
The problem is that most of public library have no expertism, those libraries cannot help falling behind. The existence of two kinds of public library system is considered to be a fundamental problem in the view of its operation.
Therefore, this study is aimed at analyzing present status and actual condition of public library in Korea and suggesting a remedy about the point at issue. To achieve this aim, this study consists of contents as follows.
First, introduction, the necessity, object, limits and methods of research are provided. Second, the definition of a public library is identified by scrutinizing various literatures on the goal of a public library policy and the function and roles of the public library. Fur the more the reason for the separated operation system of a public library is shown by the chronological scrutiny of the public library administration. Third, the status quo, installation, facilities, data and staff are comparatively analyzed and the law-based reaching rate of facilities, books and librarians is comparatively analyzed by region and operation subject. Fourth , the problems and reform alternatives, serious problems related to the public library and several alternatives, to the community library reform are provided. In conclusion, the result of this paper is summarized and the limits of this study are suggested.
The point of this study is that the current operation system of a public library makes it hard to contribute to its own development and the construction of information-intensive society, so it is required that the management of a public library should be unified into a local self-government.