Gangwha County: "Experience Contactless Book Borrowing Services"

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Seo Dong-young] Gangwha County announced on the 26th that it is providing various contactless services to ensure new reading environments and residents' right to read in the post-coronavirus era.

Gangwha Library, Naega Library, and Gilsang Small Library operate a 'Contactless Safe Book Borrowing Service' where users can request desired books by mail or phone and pick them up at the library entrance the next day. Users can borrow up to five books per person, and 24-hour returns are available through unmanned return machines.

Smart libraries installed at Gangwha Terminal and Gangwha Culture Center have approximately 350 books available for users to select and immediately borrow and return books on-site. Books can be borrowed and returned in an unmanned manner with convenient accessibility.

Incheon's integrated e-library provides audiobook and e-book borrowing services to cardholders of the book lending service. Users can easily visit the integrated e-library website (http://ebook.incheon.go.kr), borrow desired books, and use them on tablets or smartphones. Those without a membership card must visit a nearby public library to obtain one.

Additionally, Gangwha Library and Naega Library provide full-text database access and printing services through academic information mutual cooperation agreements with the National Library of Korea and the National Assembly Library.

The academic information mutual cooperation agreement is a service that digitizes and provides original documents of rare materials, unique materials, and academic information resources among national documents held by libraries.

A county official stated, "The contactless service has received high response and satisfaction from residents," and added, "In keeping with the post-coronavirus era, we will further strengthen our contactless services so that libraries can serve as information centers."