This Giant Library is Inside a Mall! Find Out How Big is the Starfield Library and the Number of Books It Contains

Two of the three giant bookshelves in the library

Bookworms in South Korea, you will definitely love this Starfield Library located at the Starfield Coex Mall in Gangnam. It’s such a huge library you can invite the whole class to come with you and study in this library. Now, take this!
You should never underestimate this library because even if it’s inside a mall, it takes an area of up to 2,800 square meters. Good thing Starfield COEX is a giant mall that it can even accommodate a giant library such as this. I considered it giant because it consists of three 13 meters tall bookshelves that handle about 50,000 books and magazines.

Some of the 50 000 books in the library

There are also magazines available for everybody to read. There are about 600 different titles from different parts of the world. So don’t be surprised if you see not only English magazines but also Japanese and Chinese. However, most of the books are written in Korean. Although the book title is in English, when you open it, it is all written in Hangeul. So if you don’t understand Korean, reading these books maybe a little bit challenging for you.

Sporting the Harry Potter series in Korean version

Since we can’t fully understand the context of a Korean book, we just toured inside the library because for me, it can pass as a cultural attraction especially for the tourists. The moment I entered, I realized that a lot of Koreans are into book despite the advent of ebooks and kindle. It’s a library open for everybody for free, so everybody can read anything they want inside the library. There are study tables where you can sit, relax and enjoy reading the book of your choice. I tried to look around and I saw nothing but books and people reading the books. I felt like a fish in the water because it is definitely my world. I somehow associated it with that scene in Beauty and the Beast where the Beast showed Belle his magnificent collection in a dusty and lonely giant library. I felt like I was Belle, but realized that I’m a guy, so I just admired the place without channeling Belle as a book lover.

Playing with the books

Although the library was crowded when we went there, people were generally silent as they’re all busy in their readings. It’s shameful to admit but I guess our group was the bearer of noise in the area since we just went there to tour. Famous book collections like the Harry Potter Series and Narnia were also available for read and as much as we want to read them all, we just can’t because it’s been translated into Korean.

Study area

I like how they put style on the bookshelves and their reading tables and chairs. It’s not just an ordinary library because they invested in the amenities like the e-book system. They see to it that this giant library can offer a conducive place for everybody to not only read and study but also to relax absolutely free of charge!

Magazine collectiom

If you want to go there, you take Seoul Subway Line number 2 (the green line) and get off at Samsung Station. Go to Exit 6 and just follow the underground passageway which is connected to the Starfield COEX Mall at floor B1-1F within Central Plaza.