This study examined whether there is a correlation between the degree of the financial independence and the establishment and operation of public libraries in 25 local governments in Seoul. It was revealed that there is an inverse correlation between them. According to the results, differently than expected, the local governments with low degree of financial independence generally built and operate more public libraries and assign more library budgets than the local governments with high degree of financial independence. It can be concluded that the local governments with low degree of financial independence show more interest in building and operating public libraries.