Starfield Library

When the COEX mall was refitted in 2017 the operators filled its central atrium with a library instead of shops: three shelving towers rising about thirteen metres, long reading tables, staircases and around fifty thousand books and several hundred magazines, all in an open space with the mall carrying on around it. It is free and anyone can sit and read. What it is not is a lending library - nothing leaves, the collection is donated and uneven, and the upper shelves are out of reach and partly decorative, which the operators have been criticised for. In practice most of the traffic is photographic, and the shelves are one of the more reproduced backdrops in Seoul. It is genuinely used as well: students work at the tables, and there is a programme of talks and readings. As a stop it costs nothing and takes half an hour.

What you actually see

• The three shelving towers - about thirteen metres of open shelves.
• The reading tables - free seating, actually used.
• The mall around it - the library sits open to the shopping floor.
• The upper shelves - unreachable, and partly there for the look.

When to go

Any time the mall is open; weekday mornings for photographs without crowds. Evenings and weekends are busy.

Honest expectations

Books cannot be borrowed and the collection is not selected. It is inside a shopping mall and sounds like one. Thirty minutes covers it.

Nearby

Bongeunsa temple is across the road; the COEX aquarium is in the same complex.