Civil servants in Donghae have come up with an inventive idea to spread a reading culture: a program called "Mukho Dokjeom."
The name is a play on words. In Korean, "dokjeom" can mean both "monopoly" and "reading at a store" — so the program's title evokes the idea of filling shops across the Mukho neighborhood with books to read.
According to the city of Donghae, the program places public library books in local shops throughout the Mukho area in the northern part of the city, with the dual aim of spreading a reading culture and revitalizing the local commercial district. The city said it will run the program on a permanent, year-round basis.
Under the initiative, books from the Balhan Library's collection are placed in neighborhood shops so that residents and tourists can encounter them in the course of daily life. The city moved to full-time operation after refining the program based on the results of a three-month pilot and surveys of participating shops and users.
The program is built on trust among city hall, the library, residents and travelers — a dynamic the city says has generated fresh enthusiasm for reading among both locals and visitors.
Thirty thematically curated books will be placed in each of 10 shops in the Mukho-dong area, with the titles rotated once a month to keep the selection fresh.
A post-reading postcard program will run alongside the book placements, turning participating shops into community spaces where residents can connect through literature.
The Mukho area has been gaining momentum as a tourism and cultural destination, and city officials hope the program will take root as a locally distinctive reading culture — one where residents and tourists naturally pick up a book while visiting a shop.
"Having confirmed the program's potential through the pilot, we will expand to year-round operation so that more residents can encounter books in their everyday lives," said Bae Jin-suk, head of the city's lifelong learning division. "We will work to spread a reading lifestyle connected to the local commercial district."
abc@heraldcorp.com
