종로서적과 개발연대 서점산업 문화사 - 1960~70년대 종로 서점가의 재편과 종로서적센터의 성장

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to examine the restructuring of South Korea’s bookstore industry and publishing distribution system in the 1960s and 1970s, which was referred to as the UN Development Decade. In other words, I would like to discuss the changes in the publishing market around Jongno, Seoul, which was a hub for book production and distribution, the turmoil in the structure of the bookstore industry, and the history of the Jongno Book Center (1963~1977). The UN Development Decade was a time when the relationship between books and national development was newly formed around the world. The distribution of books through bookstores has emerged as an important issue at the national level. As is well known, since the 1960s, Korea’s publishing and bookstore industry has undergone rapid growth and restructuring amid the confusion in the book distribution order. Under these circumstances, the Jongno Book Center, established in 1963, was a new book store equipped with modern facilities and introduced a new management method. The process of modernizing the Jongno Book Center, which used to be a small and medium-sized bookstore, and growing into a large bookstore is in line with the development process of the Korean publishing and bookstore industry. The modernization of Jongno Book Center does not only refer to the modernization of it’s interior space. This bookstore has functioned as the center of a publishing distribution and a cultural space in Seoul by attempting various cultural businesses and customer services. In addition, the bookstore has set up a department and store for importing and selling foreign books to take the lead in learning advanced knowledge and culture from abroad. The Jongno Book Center became a major bookstore in Seoul by introducing new and diverse cultural projects and systems to develop reading culture and innovate bookstore management, and led Jongno’s bookstore to modernization. The growth and change of Jongno Book Center and Jongno’ bookstore streets were closely related to changes in Korean intellectual history and cultural history, such as the creation of daily culture, publishing and reading culture, and the distribution of knowledge and network expansion.