Seoul Outdoor Library surpasses 10 million visitors in five years; 1.87 million visits this year alone

[Financial News] The cumulative number of visitors to the Seoul Outdoor Library, where people can enjoy books and relax in urban locations such as Seoul Plaza, Gwanghwamun Square and Cheonggyecheon, has surpassed 10 million in five years. The library is seen as having become part of residents’ everyday lives—not just a place to relax, but a space for reading.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government said on the 4th that the cumulative number of visitors to outdoor libraries and pop-up outdoor libraries set up in its autonomous districts, among others, had surpassed 10 million from 2022 through this year. A total of 1.87 million visitors were recorded at the three main locations this year.
User satisfaction was also high. In a survey of 5,155 visitors to the three locations this year, 97% of respondents said they were satisfied with their experience. The percentage who said they intended to visit again was 97.4%, while 97.8% said they would recommend the libraries to others.
In particular, 90.3% of respondents said they had actually read a book on site. The Seoul Outdoor Library also ranked first, with 112,762 votes, in the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s “Top 10 News of 2025,” selected by public vote last year.
Seoul’s outdoor reading culture is spreading to other regions and into residents’ everyday spaces. This year, outdoor libraries operated at 383 locations nationwide, including Seoul’s main sites, libraries run by autonomous districts and pop-up outdoor libraries, as well as independently operated examples in other regions.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government has also expanded outdoor reading spaces by lending books, camping chairs and other items to childcare centers, kindergartens, schools and cultural facilities. By the end of October this year, 269 institutions had used book kits from the Seoul Pop-up Outdoor Library.
Programs that let people enjoy reading together have also grown. Hipdok Club, a citizen-participation reading group now in its second year, recruited 10,000 members. It offers a range of ways to take part in reading, including reading and exploring excerpts from books and listening to expert commentary.
Media overseas have also shown interest in how Seoul operates its outdoor libraries. On the 30th of last month, the U.S. publication Bloomberg covered the Seoul Outdoor Library and Hipdok Club as key examples in a report on South Korea’s “Text Hip” phenomenon. The U.K.-based library-specialist platform Designing Libraries also featured Seoul as an example of expanding the library’s spatial reach outdoors.
The Seoul Outdoor Library wrapped up operations on the 1st ahead of winter and is scheduled to reopen next April.
Min Su-hong, head of the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Culture Headquarters, said, “The fact that the Seoul Outdoor Library has recorded 10 million cumulative visitors since it first opened in 2022 means it has become a place for reading culture in residents’ everyday lives.” He added, “We will continue to provide a variety of spaces and programs so that everyone can relax with a book nearby and share the joy of reading.”

[email protected] Seong Cho-rong Reporter