ISSN : 2466-2542
This study aims to increase understanding of current status and changes of academic libraries in South Korea in comparison with those of academic libraries in North America and United Kingdom (UK). The five-year statistics of academic libraries were collected from Korea Education and Research Information Service (KERIS), Association of Research Libraries (ARL), and Society of College, National and University Libraries (SCONUL), and the authors compared the statistical indicators that are comparable to each other. The circumstance and performance of academic libraries in North America were much better than those of South Korea. In addition, the area of library buildings in South Korea was larger than those in UK, and they also had more books and carrels than UK libraries; however, UK libraries had more library staffs, expenditure on material purchase, and interlibrary loan requests. These findings imply that there should be more support on academic libraries in South Korea to increase library staffs and budget, which will invigorate library services and use.