The 20 biggest university libraries in South Korea are dwarfed by their Western counterparts in terms of book possession at libraries, a study showed Tuesday.
According to the Korea Education and Research Information Service (KERIS), libraries affiliated with Korea's 20 biggest universities, including Seoul National University (SNU) and Kyungpook National University (KNU), house 1.91 million volumes on average.
A 2008 statistics released by the U.S. Association of Research Libraries (ARL) shows that 113 U.S. university libraries keep an average of 4.41 million books, more than double that of South Korea, said the KERIS.
Harvard University holds the most books, 16.25 million, while the University of Saskatchewan in Canada ranks 112th with 2.02 million volumes. The University of Guelph, also in Canada, stands at 113th, the lowest rank, with 1.85 million books, slightly lower than South Korea's average.
The SNU library has a collection of 4.09 million books, below the ARL average and similar to the University Southern California, which keeps 4.08 million volumes and ranks 39th.
The second-largest library, at South Korea's KNU, possesses 2.73 million books, compared with 90th-ranked University of New Mexico with 2.73 million volumes.
The top 20 South Korean universities lend out an average of 17 books to one student, the same level as 71st-ranked Arizona State University.
Ewha Womans University loans the most books per student in South Korea at 35, much higher than the ARL average of 26 books and consistent with 23rd-ranked University of Hawaii with 33.
Harvard University also tops the ARL list of average number of books lent out to a student with 102 books.