Libraries fail to lure students to come<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Librarians working at highschools in Greater Jakarta agreed on
\nTuesday that school libraries in the city were failing to attract
\nmore students because they were neither \"fun\" nor \"relaxing\".<\/p>\n
Aisyah Abdur Rahman, a librarian at the SMUN 66 high school in
\nSouth Jakarta, said that out of the 700 students studying in the
\nschool, only 20 of them used the facility regularly and many said
\nits services were inadequate.<\/p>\n
\"We don't have a catalog for our collection and there is no
\nmultimedia equipment provided,\" Aisyah said, adding that the
\nlibrary only had 40 seats and was still focussed on a physical
\nupgrade.<\/p>\n
Another librarian, Umar, in charge of the SMU 5 highschool
\nlibrary in Depok, West Java, said that his school's library
\nneeded an internet connection to attract students.<\/p>\n
\"Spending time in the library should also be fun and relaxing.
\nA (DVD or) VCD collection is as important as the book collection,
\nbut we're short of money,\" he said.<\/p>\n
University of Indonesia Library Science Department head Fuad
\nGani said according to his research, students' low interest in
\nusing school libraries was related to the bad management of the
\nfacilities.<\/p>\n
\"The conditions of many school libraries in the city are
\ndistressing. My research showed that many principals considered
\nthat good library management was not a priority and had no impact
\non students' intellectual capabilities,\" Fuad told The Jakarta
\nPost.<\/p>\n
Out of 500 Jakarta elementary school students that he
\ninterviewed last year, the majority felt they did not need to use
\nlibraries because they said buying books was easier to do than
\nbrowsing in libraries.<\/p>\n
To help school librarians to turn libraries into comfortable
\nplaces to learn and research, his department, along with Program
\nBimbingan Anak Sampoerna (cigarette manufacturer PT HM
\nSampoerna's child development program) held a three-day library
\nmanagement training course in the university's campus, inviting
\nparticipants from 20 schools in Jakarta, Depok and Bogor.<\/p>\n
The program launched a campaign called Pustaka Kita (Our
\nLibraries) to train school librarians to motivating students to
\ncome to libraries by formulating a catalog, adding multimedia
\nfacilities and alternative reading materials, such as comic
\nbooks.<\/p>\n
Fuad said the use of libraries was an indicator of the
\nintellectual capabilities of the next generation of students.<\/p>\n
\"We hope to encourage these librarians to improve their
\nlibraries' conditions and to attract more students to explore
\nthese places.\" (006)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/libraries-fail-to-lure-students-to-come-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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