Abstract

The study aims to study the user perception and satisfaction on the current church library services in Korea. 100 registered attendees and 10 priests, from three different groups were randomly selected for the survey. Three groups - the one with its own library, another with a community type library, and the other without church library - were compared. A literature review and survey were executed, and the questionnaires of the survey for analysis in this research contained demographic information, usage of church library, mission and function of the church library, library space, librarians, collection, community services of the church library, and perception on the effect of the library's community service on a specific religious activity (evangelism). The analysis revealed that the satisfaction level on church library service was relatively high (3.5 point on average, 5-point Likert scale), even though the frequency of using the church library service was relatively low. The study also found that users perceived the library as a community library or archives of the church, and study rooms and reading rooms as its major functions. It reveals that religious materials were preferred as the church library collection and the service of the church library to its community was perceived as being a effective and positive factor on evangelism. Applying church library service should be considered in order to enhance the understanding on the religion and effective results of evangelism.