Abstract

A public library in most countries is a knowledge and cultural institution, which is established, supported and funded by the local administrative authorities and central government. Public libraries, therefore, should ensure access to knowledge and information through various resources and services equally available to all members of the community. This role of the public library is a world-wide phenomenon and are called the universality which is applied to all countries. On the other hand, the public library's policies and operations in many countries have their own particularity, meaning exceptional cases, and this is due to the different stages of the growth and development, socio-cultural diversities. This study analyzed and discoursed whether expansion policy of the small library, supremacy of lifelong learning, steep increase in the percentage of contracting out, installation and operation of reading rooms in public libraries are examples of tolerance of particularity based on the universality or the negation of the universality packed with particularity in Korea.