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Funding and governance of library and information services for visually impaired people: international case studies

Part2:Country studies

South Korea

Library and user group data

Visually impaired people registered by the government under the above definition amount to around 190,000. However, the Korean Library of the Blind estimates that there are 250,000 in total.

In the 21st century, public libraries in Korea have rapidly increased in number. There were 168 public libraries nationwide in 1986 and 462 by 2003. The number of library users has also rapidly increased from 17 million in 1986 to 97 million in 2003. Book circulation increased from 9,790,000 volumes in 1986 to 11,007,000 volumes in 2003. The rapid expansion of public libraries has been due to government support and changes in recognition of libraries by local governors. However, only 34 provide any services to visually impaired people.