Ulsan Library, a 15,176 m² transformation of the Yeocheoncheon Stream into a park

Ulsan’s flagship library built over the ‘severance’ of Yeocheoncheon on April 26, 2018

Ulsan Library is Ulsan Metropolitan City’s flagship library, opened on April 26, 2018. According to the city’s public library statistics, its site area is 32,594㎡ and its total floor area is 15,176.65㎡. It operates as a one-basement-level, three-above-ground-floor facility. As of June 30, 2026, it has 839 reading seats and 400,527 books.

Its location was not an ordinary downtown site from the beginning. According to architectural records, sanitation-treatment facilities around the site physically and visually separated it from the city, while Yeocheoncheon flowing in front was also perceived as a boundary. The design addressed this severance by turning the Yeocheoncheon waterfront into a park and connecting the southern ecological park with the northern waterside park, positioning the library as the center of a space for “culture, reading, and communication.”

The building received the Grand Prize at the 2018 Ulsan Metropolitan City Architecture Awards and an Excellence Award at the 2019 Korea Green Building Competition. Rather than making a short visit focused only on the exterior, it is easier to understand the architectural concept by exploring the collections rooms on the first and third floors together with the routes toward the parks.

Three floors divided between the Children’s and Ulsan Regional Collections Rooms on the first floor and the General Collections Room on the third

The basement level contains a 3,306.18㎡ closed-stack storage area. The first floor includes the Children’s Collections Room, Ulsan Regional Collections Room, Periodicals Room, Digital Resources Room, and Accessible Collections Room, along with an auditorium, exhibition room, and media room. Visitors with children can begin on the first floor, where the Children’s Collections Room is available from Tuesday to Sunday, 09:00–18:00.

The third-floor General Collections Room covers general, multicultural, senior, and youth materials. It operates 09:00–21:00 on weekdays and 09:00–18:00 on weekends. If your plan is to read quietly or look for topics related to Ulsan, allowing 60–90 minutes to combine the first-floor Ulsan Regional Collections Room with the third-floor General Collections Room is appropriate.

The second floor has cultural lecture rooms, seminar rooms, club rooms, a restaurant, and a book café. Availability of lecture and rental spaces may vary according to the event schedule, so if you are attending a specific program, check the reading-culture events and rental schedules on the website before visiting.

• First floor: Children’s, Ulsan Regional, periodicals, digital, and accessible collections rooms; exhibition room; auditorium
• Second floor: Cultural lecture rooms, seminar rooms, club rooms, restaurant, book café
• Third floor: General, multicultural, senior, and youth collections rooms; copying room; group discussion room

The third floor stays open until 21:00 on weekdays, while the first-floor collections rooms close at 18:00

Ulsan Library is closed every Monday, on public holidays, and on temporary holidays designated by the government. Admission is free, and a library card is not required to read materials inside the library. The main telephone number is 052-266-5670, and the official website is https://library.ulsan.go.kr/lib/lib/main.do.

Operating hours vary by space. The third-floor General Collections Room is open 09:00–21:00 on weekdays and 09:00–18:00 on Saturdays and Sundays. In contrast, the first-floor Children’s Collections Room, Digital Resources Room, Accessible Collections Room, and Periodicals Room are open 09:00–18:00 on both weekdays and weekends. If you arrive on a weekday evening, plan mainly around the third-floor General Collections Room after 18:00.

Borrowing books, reserving books currently on loan, and reserving the Digital Resources Room are services available to library-card holders. Borrowing is limited to five books per person for 15 days, with no extensions. Reserved books are automatically canceled if not borrowed within three days after text-message notification. Travelers can visit simply to read materials and view exhibitions, but those wishing to borrow should first check membership eligibility, such as residence, enrollment, or employment in Ulsan, as well as the required identification documents.

Three minutes from the Ulsan Library (63907) bus stop, and six minutes from Hyundai Munhwa Apartment (63906)

The address is 140 Kkotdaenari-ro, Nam-gu, Ulsan (Yeocheon-dong). From the nearest “Ulsan Library” bus stop (63907), it is about a three-minute walk. Buses 217, 417, 718, 734, 754, Jung-gu 04, and Nam-gu 07 stop there. After getting off, walk toward Kkotdaenari-ro.

The “Hyundai Munhwa Apartment” stop (63906) is another option. Take bus 217, 718, 734, 754, or Jung-gu 04, then walk about six minutes. From the Ulsan Express Bus Terminal stop (31715), the official route is to take bus 217, 417, 734, 754, or Jung-gu 04, get off at the Ulsan Library stop, and walk for three minutes.

Since Ulsan is not a city organized around urban railway stations, first-time visitors can reduce mistakes by saving stop numbers 63907 and 63906 along with the bus numbers. It is best to check bus routes and real-time locations again at the Ulsan Transportation Management Center just before departure.

219-space parking lot and free parking hours after 21:00 on weekdays

The affiliated parking lot accommodates 219 vehicles. Information materials list the basic fee as 500 won per hour, with a daily maximum of 3,000 won, and state that card payment only is available. If you are using the collections rooms by car, it is safer to prepare a suitable parking payment method in advance.

Free access is provided from 21:00 to 09:00 the following day on weekday nights and from 18:00 to 09:00 the following day on weekend nights. Free access is also indicated for Mondays and public holidays, but the library itself is closed every Monday and on public holidays. Therefore, “parking available” and “collections rooms available” should not be understood as meaning the same thing.

When an event involving 50 or more participants is held in the auditorium or elsewhere, the renter is responsible for vehicle guidance and parking management. Traffic and parking routes may differ from usual on event days, so visitors planning a long stay or an event should consider public transportation first.

Assistive devices in the Accessible Collections Room and library-card requirements for foreign residents

The first-floor Accessible Collections Room operates 09:00–18:00 on both weekdays and weekends, providing loans of specialized materials, assistive technology devices, and a face-to-face reading room. Visitors using strollers or wheelchairs who are planning to visit the collections rooms should call 052-266-5670 in advance to confirm available assistive devices and routes.

Foreign nationals may also qualify for a library card if an Alien Registration Card can verify their identity and residence in Ulsan. However, anyone may read materials, while a library card is required for borrowing, book reservations, and Digital Resources Room reservations. For short-term foreign visitors, using the first-floor regional collections room and exhibition room together with the third-floor General Collections Room is more practical than completing the membership process.

Adults who live, attend school, or work in Ulsan can apply for membership online and visit with identification and the required supporting documents to receive a library card. Children need to be accompanied by a legal representative and must provide documents proving their family relationship, so families wishing to borrow books during a trip should check their documents in advance.

How “Ulsan’s Book of the Year” has linked 21 public libraries since 2019

Ulsan Library serves not only as a building with collections rooms but also as the center of Ulsan’s public library network. “Ulsan’s Book of the Year” is a citywide reading campaign hosted by Ulsan Metropolitan City and jointly organized by 21 public libraries, led by Ulsan Library.

Before Ulsan Library opened in April 2018, districts, counties, and the education office each pursued their own reading programs. These were integrated from 2019 into “Ulsan’s Book of the Year,” which covers the entire city. In this sense, the Ulsan Regional Collections Room and cultural events connect the industrial city’s local records with citizens’ reading activities.

Exhibitions, author talks, and lectures vary frequently. Rather than expecting a permanent tourist exhibition, check the date, audience, capacity, and materials fee in the reading-culture events schedule on the official website and add suitable programs to your itinerary.

For a 90-minute visit, follow a route from the first-floor regional collections room toward a walk along Yeocheoncheon

If you are visiting for the first time without plans to borrow books, an efficient 90-minute route is to see the first-floor Ulsan Regional Collections Room and exhibition room first, add the Children’s Collections Room if traveling with children, and then go up to the third-floor General Collections Room. Since the first-floor collections rooms close after 18:00 on weekdays, late arrivals should account for the fact that only the third-floor General Collections Room remains open.

Those interested in architecture and urban context can head outside after touring the interior and explore the outdoor space planned to connect the southern ecological park and northern waterside park through the Yeocheoncheon waterfront park. However, this is a library, so it is not suitable for visits expecting noisy group activities or lengthy guided tours.

On rainy or very hot days, about one hour focused on the first- and third-floor collections rooms is appropriate; allow around two hours if lectures or exhibitions are included. Operating hours, closure dates, events, and collections-room conditions may change, so confirm the latest information on the official website or by telephone on the day of departure.