Regional hub library straddling Seoul and Gyeonggi Province borders honored at national library awards; children's postal counseling program draws praise
Songpa Wiryeo Library has secured about 490 million won ($367,000) through 35 competitive grant projects while expanding specialized services that promote a reading culture across all age groups.
Songpa-gu announced Monday that Songpa Wiryeo Library received a ministerial commendation from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism in the organization category of the ministry's 2026 National Library Operations Merit Awards.
The library was recognized for improving operational efficiency and user services through cooperation between libraries and with the broader community.
Opened in October 2017, Songpa Wiryeo Library is the first public library in the Wiryeo new town, where the administrative boundaries of Songpa-gu, Hanam and Seongnam in Gyeonggi Province converge. It has established itself as a community hub library shared by residents of all three areas, and has strengthened ties with the local community by adopting a management model called W-ESG, tailored to the region's characteristics.
Among the initiatives that drew particular attention at this year's awards was a children's postal counseling program that uses books to address young readers' worries.
Children write their concerns on slips of paper and drop them into a dedicated mailbox; members of a community reading and psychological counseling club then reply with handwritten letters and recommend books suited to each child's situation. Over the past three years, the program received 362 submissions, responded to 357 of them, and recommended 449 books. The program was widely praised as a reading-culture model that tends to children's emotional well-being through books while engaging local residents in a shared act of care.
The library's success in securing outside funding and expanding specialized services was also cited. Since 2023, Songpa Wiryeo Library has attracted a total of 45 million won in donations from Narae Energy Service Co., and over the past three years it has been selected for 35 external grant projects, securing about 490 million won.
Services tailored to specific user groups have also proven popular. A multi-volume set lending service for middle-aged and older patrons recorded 20,137 loans over the past three years. A picture-book space installed in the library lobby drew 30,222 visitors over the past two years.
Songpa-gu District Mayor Seo Gang-seok said the award was "a hard-earned result of differentiated specialized services and proactive library management," adding that the district would continue to expand library policies rooted in the community so that all residents can enjoy a reading culture.
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