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Grand People's Study House
Chosŏn'gŭl	인민대학습당
Hancha	人民大學習堂
Revised Romanization	Inmin Daehakseupdang
McCune–Reischauer	Inmin Taehaksŭptang

Grand People's Study House
Grand People's Study House
인민대학습당
	Grand People's Study House, as seen from across the Taedong River.
Location	Pyongyang, North Korea
Type	Public
Established	1982 (43 years ago)
Other information
Website	www.gpsh.edu.kp

The Grand People's Study House (Korean: 인민대학습당) is the central library located in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea. The library was built in 1982 in honour of the Supreme Leader Kim Il Sung's 70th birthday. It is located in the centre of the capital, situated on Kim Il Sung Square by the banks of the Taedong River. Additionally, the library is near the Juche Tower, further establishing a connection between the people and the Juche ideology.^[1]

While the library is the centre of Juche studies, lectures and materials concerning other topics can also be found there. Almost all materials are strictly accessible to librarians and staff, but people can still search the online or print catalogues to find what they would like to borrow. A formal communication from the library is issued to the offender's employer if a borrowed item is not returned on time. Staff members are then required to return the item right away. Likewise, foreign publications are available only with special permission.

Features

The Study House was constructed in a traditional Korean style in April 1982 over a period of 21 months to celebrate leader Kim Il Sung's 70th birthday.^[2] Opened as "a sanctuary of learning",^[3] the library is located in the center of the capital, the Central District of Pyongyang, near the Supreme People's Assembly. It is also across from the Juche Tower, cementing the connection between the people of North Korea and the Juche ideology.^[1]

It has a total floor space of 100,000 square metres (1,100,000 sq ft). and 600 rooms.^[4] The building can house up to 30 million books,^[3]^[5] of which it contains around 10,800 documents, books and "on-the-spot guidance" Kim Il Sung wrote.^[6] Foreign publications are available only with special permission.^[7] Writings of Kim Jong Il are also included. Almost all materials are strictly accessible to librarians and staff, but people can still search the online or print catalogues to find what they would like to borrow. A formal communication from the library is issued to the offender's employer if a borrowed item is not returned on time. The employer is then required to remind their staff member to return the item right away.^[1]

The library is the national centre of Juche studies, with one North Korean guide reporting to study the "Great Leader" Kim Il Sung and "Dear Leader" Kim Jong Il for a total of 90 minutes per day.^[8] Lectures on a variety of subjects also take place,^[9] with the American evangelist Billy Graham even being able to give a talk in 1994, despite religious practises often being met with harsh punishments.^[10] Also, the Juche Tower – the physical manifestation of North Korea's Communist brand – is directly across from the library on the other side of the Taedong River. The library, as well as for those who use it, follows Kim Il Sung's "study while working" mindset to help North Koreans advance their socialist and self-reliant education, and strengthen their admiration for the Kim family.^[1] For major media coverage, the library is often seen in speeches, military and nuclear parades, and performances celebrating national holidays.^[1]

Significance

Although not the national library of North Korea, the Grand People's Study House acts as a sort of "quasi-national library" alongside the official National Central Library.^[11] In his two-part account of North Korean libraries, library and information scientist Marc Kosciejew^[12] uses the conceptual framework of library-as-place to better illuminate their significance. The library plays numerous significant roles in the lives of North Koreans, as places of cult of personality and governmental control. It also helps reinforce the Juche mindset through what tightly-controlled and monitored information and events are available to the public. However, the mere fact that the library makes some information available is very rare for such an enigmatic country.^[13]

Computers and librarianship

A computer study room at the Grand People's Study House. Photo taken in March 2014. The computers give access to a North Korean intranet, not the world-wide Internet. The computers here are set up with Windows XP and Internet Explorer 6.0.

The library has numerous spacious computer rooms with modern computers providing access to the North Korean intranet. Alongside Juche, computer education is compulsory in North Korea, making them the two most popular subjects to study for military officers and university students.^[1] People with computer-related office jobs, such as librarians, are seen in high regard.^[1] As of 2019, the curator is Choi Heui-jung.^[14]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Kosciejew, Marc (2009). "Inside an Axis of Evil Library: A First-Hand Account of the North Korea Dear Leader's Library System Part One" (PDF). Feliciter. 55 (4): 167–170. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
^ Portal, Jane; British Museum (2005). Art under control in North Korea. Reaktion Books. p. 97. ISBN 978-1-86189-236-2.
^ ^a ^b French, Paul (2007). North Korea: the paranoid peninsula--a modern history2 (2 ed.). Zed Books. p. 299. ISBN 978-1-84277-905-7.
^ Willoughby, Robert (2008). The Bradt Travel Guide: North Korea (2 ed.). Bradt Travel Guides. p. 100. ISBN 978-1-84162-219-4.
^ Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Issues 406-415. Foreign Languages Pub. House. 1990. p. 18.
^ Callick, Rowan (22 September 2007). "The cult of the Kims". The Australian.
^ Robinson, Martin; Bender, Andrew (2004). Korea. Whyte, Rob. Lonely Planet. p. 345. ISBN 978-1-74059-449-3.
^ Roberts, Dexter (2 October 2007). "In the Land of the Dear Leader". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on 30 October 2008. Retrieved 9 December 2009.
^ "Grand People's Study House". Korean Central News Agency. 3 March 2009. Archived from the original on 9 June 2011.
^ Corfield, James (1 December 2014). Historical Dictionary of Pyongyang. Anthem Press. p. 57.
^ Stam, David H., ed. (2016). International Dictionary of Library Histories. London: Routledge. pp. 482–483. ISBN 978-1-136-77785-1.
^ "Dr Marc Kosciejew, Biography section". L-Università ta' Malta. Malta: L.-Università ta' Malta. Retrieved 23 December 2018. Dr. Marc Kosciejew is a Lecturer of Library, Information, and Archive Sciences within the Faculty of Media and Knowledge Sciences (MaKS) at the University of Malta. ... In 2007 he conducted research in North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) on the secretive Communist state's library system, becoming one of the first English-speakers to present and publish on this specific topic. His articles on North Korean libraries, featured in a 2009 two-part series in the national journal of the Canadian Library Association (CLA), are some of the first articles to directly discuss and critically analyze the libraries, specifically the national Grand People's Study House, of the so-called 'hermit kingdom'.
^ Kosciejew, Marc (2009). "Inside an Axis of Evil Library: A First-Hand Account of the North Korean Dear Leader's Library System Part Two" (PDF). Feliciter. 55 (5): 207–209. Retrieved 2 January 2025.
^ Savolainen, Liisa (23 October 2017). "CNDL Address" (PDF). Conference of Directors of National Libraries. p. 14. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 November 2019. Retrieved 18 July 2020.