Long celebrated for its tech-forward innovations and globally exported pop culture, Korea is now exporting a quieter, more literary phenomenon: its open-air reading culture. Next week, the Seoul Metropolitan Library will bring its signature outdoor library initiative to the global stage at the World Library and Information Congress in Busan, framing public reading as a vital new pillar of K-culture. Organized by the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions, the summit is the largest gathering of its kind in the global library sector. Returning to Korea for the first time in two decades, the 2026 congress is expected to draw over 5,000 librarians, policy experts and delegates from roughly 150 countries to the coastal city’s BEXCO convention center from Aug. 10-13. At the center of Seoul’s presentation is the Seoul Outdoor Library, an ambitious civic initiative launched in 2022 that reimagined public reading spaces by dotting plazas, parks and riverbanks with beanbags, shade umbrellas and open shelves. The program has drawn an astonishing 8 million visitors th