British Council clarifies

Referring to the article on Nov. 30 of The Jakarta Post regarding the creation of a new partnership between the British Council and the Ministry of National Education, and the transfer of the British Council Library, I am most concerned to correct the suggestion made by your report that I had a concern about the possibility that the ministry might deliver a lower quality of service to library members. I have no such concern.

The transfer of the Library has been agreed in order to preserve it as a resource in Jakarta and to allow it to grow for both existing and new members. Library managers are always concerned about improving the quality of service for users.

The British Council underwent a long process which led to our selecting the ministry as our most preferred partner for the library's future management. We are very pleased with the enthusiasm, commitment and resources the ministry has applied to the library in its new location.

In my remarks at the hand-over ceremony on Nov. 29, I confirmed the confidence I have in the Ministry of National Education and how pleased we were with the new partnership. As part of our new partnership, as stated in the article, we agreed to provide a two-year training program as well as a modest budget to assist in the purchase of new books.

This small contribution has been made to help transfer both knowledge and technology of library management to the new owner, so that they will be able to maintain the consistency of service provided to 7,000 members in Jakarta.

We all hope that the new library will serve its purpose and continue to support and strengthen the relationship between Indonesia and the United Kingdom.

MIKE HARDY Director The British Council Indonesia

Note: Thank you for your clarification

--Editor