Professor Son Ki-sub, Chief Librarian,

Relays Calm and Comfortable Reading Methods

Reporter Choi Ha-eun

haeun.choi.2002@gmail.com

Autumn has been a season of reading from the past. Sometimes it feels like the cool breeze of fall makes reading easier than usual. However, with advanced technology, people prefer watching videos than reading books and many books have been forgotten. Even students in universities are more accustomed to digital documents and videos than paper books. Professor Son Ki-sub, the chief librarian of Busan University of Foreign Studies is in charge of diverse reading programs in the library in order to encourage and help BUFSians read books and utilize the library in the most efficient way. The Woeseong Times interviewed Professor Son Ki-sub to hear his reading tips and how to join useful programs in the library.

Q1. Hello! Could you please introduce yourself to the readers?

A Hi, I am Professor Son Ki-sub, the director of BUFS' library. I am a professor of international relations within the division of International Relations and Development Cooperation and also the dean of the faculty. The central library has a very good location and always welcomes the students and teaching staff with various documents and established service systems for students. The core vision of the library is to be a library that connects with the world, a happy library, and a smart library.

Q2. I like the three goals of the library! Do you have any programs that you want to recommend to the students?

A This fall, so far, we have not been able to properly promote many events due to COVID-19, typhoons, and Chuseok. However, there is a program that BUFS runs annually, called humanities on the road. Experts from diverse fields hold about ten special lectures for students. They usually give eight special lectures and have time to receive feedback and questions on the ninth meeting and go on a field trip on the tenth meeting. This year's topic of humanities on the road is 'young adults renaissance'. This program is extremely recommendable.

Another program that we have is the 'one book, one book report' contest. If students submit book reports on designated books, they can collect points and if their points are high, they can receive 100,000 KRW worth of gift cards. Even though the sum is not big, it might be a special record on your resume. Besides, the library has an exhibition on the first floor centered on a specific theme every two months. There is no need to register for this exhibition and students can just come in and see the displayed documents.

Other than those programs, our library is holding many other programs such as 'BUFS Dadok-dadok', 'BUFS fine books reading program' and 'BUFS Books 100' that includes <목민심서> (Mokminshimseo) by Jeong Yak-yong, the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty and <Republic> by Plato.

Q3. Did you utilize the library frequently when you were in college?

A I did. When I was in middle and high school, I used the library as a place to study since there were not enough places to study. When I was in college, I put my book bag in the library and went out to have fun. I studied in Sungkyunhwan University and there was an annex in the library for students who were preparing to take the civil-service examination. Since I read the books in the library, I used the annex to study.

Q4. Why do you think reading books is important?

A First, reading improves the power to think and expands the scope of one's thinking. Whether you go into a specific company, social organization, government organization or do business, not only technical knowledge is needed, but also related overall power, ideas, and imagination is required. Therefore, humanities imagination and natural space inference empowers one's business. When you have a rich humanities imagination, you will become more peaceful and stable in yourself, more than because of any social accomplishment or judgment. Even Steve Jobs stated that advancement comes out of thinking power. Another importance is that reading books is a way of gaining information. The library has all things synthetically; there are paper documents, specialized books, electric documents and computers. There is nothing like the library when searching information.

Q5. Do you have your own reading tips for those who have a hard time reading books?

A First, I want to tell those people to start by thinking 'what field do I like?' 'what am I interested in?' If you can answer those questions, the staff in the library can help you find books and basic primers of the field.

Another tip for students is to look at special book lists such as '100 fine books BUFS recommends,' '50 books young adults like,' or books that society or universities acknowledge. Of course you would not be able to read all of them but set a goal of reading 50 or 30 of them in a year to start reading and keep it steady. Besides, I recommend writing book reports after you read books to record what you read, and it refreshes your memory. Thus, I hope our students make small plans for reading. However, do not challenge yourself with difficult and deep books, but challenge yourself with books that you can read comfortably. For example, I am very interested in the universe, celestial bodies and the galaxy. Therefore, I read Carl Sagan's <Cosmos> which is very famous. Or if you like movies, you could try reading novels that have been recreated into movies. There is no need to read all books cover to cover. Even if you skim through books, it is okay if you check the essential theme.

Q6. Did you become the chief librarian because you like books?

A It was because the university president offered the position to me. I refused to take this position at first, but the chief continuously suggested and I eventually accepted it because I was very grateful that he recommended me even though I feel I am lacking in ability. The chief librarian of a central library is one of the most honorable positions after the president of the university. If you look at other universities, each university has one who put lots of effort into a field of study and reads books diligently as the chief librarian. The honor and academic status of the chief librarian is as high as the president of the university.

As I hear these questions, I have many points to reflect on as the chief librarian. Although I really want to make some personal time to sit in our library and read books, even if it is just for half a day, it is almost impossible for me to do so. Therefore, I think I would be happy if I could skim over some books as I said before.

Q7. Are there advantages that only the BUFS library has?

A When a certain organization has its vision, it should be furnished with vision-related documents and functions. Having a vision of a library that meets with the world means that we have diverse linguistic documents and books from each region and country. Our second vision is to create a happy library which aims to make students and staff feel happy when they use the library. Therefore, freely come to the library and take a rest at any time. For the third vision, 'smart library,' we are trying hard to gather information for the IT age and establish those technical policies. Moreover, Seoul Education Ministry came to evaluate our facility and many evaluation committees gave positive assessments for our library.

Q8. Do you have any books that you want to recommend to the students?

A Actually, I hope our students read these three books. <Everything that has life is beautiful> by Choi Je-chun, <The accidental Superpower> by Peter Zeihan, <Korea's creative globalization strategy> by Park Se-il.