Bookstart Korea
South Korea
December 26th 2023
Book Culture Foundation/Bookstart Korea
2F, 40, Dongsung3-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul, Korea 03085
Book Culture Foundation/Bookstart Korea is the civil movement organization who tries to develop the culture of reading books widely and deeply by expanding the infrastructures and contents of information & knowledge to make a society where all citizens can enjoy the right and opportunity of accessing to an equal knowledge; and where each citizen is able to create his own life value by resolving information gaps and inequality. The Foundation started its activity in 2001 to have spread activities such as the establishment of Miracle Library the special library for children, the support for school libraries, the creation of libraries for patients in hospitals, and the support for Bookstart, Book Wing(Bookstart for children who begin their first year in an elementary school), Reading groups, as a major project.
Kim Hyun Bin
Manager
bookreader.or.kr (Book Culture Foundation), bookstart.org (Bookstart Korea)
National reading promotion organization
11
Bookstart Korea
South Korea
2003
Bookstart Korea aims to provide a free pack of books to every baby in Korea to inspire, stimulate and create a love of reading that will give children a flying start in life. The goal of the Bookstart in Korea is to provide the free package of Bookstart to all born babies and deliver the message so called the support of social childcare, and to make a social system to minimize opportunity gap and inequality. Therefore, Bookstart Korea emphasizes the point, “Every society has a responsibility to raise babies well, which means the responsibility of the society as well as that of parents” rather than the value so called reading promotion.
Private-Public Cooperation
National
Non-profit
None
Consistent.
Bookstart Korea bag, Two picture books, Program brocher, Guidance for carers about how to read books with babies and children, Optional small present such as handkerchief, crayon, puzzle.
Yes.
Library, Community centre, Health clinic.
Healthcare workers, librarians, volunteers.
The characteristic of Bookstart in Korea is an active participation and activity by volunteers. A librarian in charge of the Bookstart educates local residents to compose ‘Bookstart Volunteers’ and proceed with the program. Those mothers used to take charge of its role as a volunteer who have already observed the growth of babies or a mother who has experienced the Bookstart. It is because even though public libraries in Korea have been expanded by its number without sufficient manpower, they have gone through the process to raise volunteers actively and encourage their participation and activities. However, it is not simply because of such aspect. The Bookstart is leading residents of local society to become a person who helps library service and helping public libraries to become a center of local society. The Bookstart also has been playing a role of invigorating public libraries while people who have been unfamiliar with public libraries consider them familiar.
Every baby and child under school age in South Korea.
110,880 children (in 2018).
3 months – 7 years.
No.
Korean. (Multilingual program brochures such as Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese and Filipino are available.)
Soo-Yeon Kim, “An Analysis on Relations Between the Services of Public Libraries for Babies and Toddlers and Bookstart Program” (2010.)
