Foreign textbooks slow to reach Indonesia: Librarian
Foreign textbooks slow to reach Indonesia: Librarian
JAKARTA (JP): Most foreign textbooks are slow to reach
Indonesia in spite of strong demand, a librarian says.
It takes an average of one year after publication in the West
for new titles to become available in this country, Tina T.
Nanny, the chief librarian of Yarsi University, said yesterday.
This situation applied to books in virtually all branches of
science, and particularly economics, business studies, natural
sciences, and medicine.
Other Southeast Asian countries, like Singapore and Malaysia,
did not face such delays she said, adding that it was common to
find bookstores and university libraries there offering books
that were published in England this year.
Yarsi University is holding a book exhibition at its campus on
Jl. Cempaka Putih in conjunction with a workshop to discuss the
role of college libraries in the global information era.
Both the workshop and exhibition end tomorrow.
Eight foreign publishers of university books and four
Indonesian companies are taking part in the exhibition.
One of the participants is Singapore's Institute of Southeast
Asian Studies (ISEAS), which publishes at least three new titles
each month.
Khairani Hj Osman, representing the institute, said ISEAS had
encountered difficulties in selling its books in Indonesia
because very few bookstores were willing to take them.
"Our books usually are for specific readers, such as
university students and professionals," Khairani said, adding
that ISEAS books were now being distributed in Jakarta through
Times book shops.
ISEAS, a government-supported agency, concentrates in
publishing books on economics, and social and political
developments of countries in the region. Most are written by
scholars from Southeast Asia.
Other foreign publishers at the exhibition include McGraw Hill
Prentice Hall of the United States, Library Service UK,
University Microfilms of Australia, Silver Platter of Australia
Dynix Australia, Institute of Physics UK, and Swets & Zeitlinger
of the Netherlands. (12)