Librarian battles for literary culture

Librarian battles for literary culture

By Irawati Wisnumurti

JAKARTA (JP): Colleagues have described the head of the
National Library, Mastini Hardjoprakoso, as a quietly elegant
lady who loves embroidery and is passionate about the outdoors.

Although she is gentle, humorous and loves children, Mastini
is known as a tough and disciplined lady who is serious about her
work.

Directly responsible to President Soeharto, she established
the concept of a national library to gather national and
international publications, and national treasures like writings
on bones and papyrus. She also helps develop other libraries in
Indonesia.

Commenting on law number 4/1990 on the compulsory presentation
and registration of published material, she said the private
sector was quite disciplined and submitted copies of publications
promptly.

But the government has not been submitting copies as often or
as quickly as it should, she pointed out.

"Indeed, the provincial governments are more responsive. But
the central government is not responsive enough. People need to
remember that the books will be preserved, as the National
Library's role is record keeping. It is only for research and
reference, unlike a public library," Mastini said.

"All our pre-independence records are virtually intact. Many
that are missing, are from recent times. In the future, this
could be such a shame, for today's news and writings will have
historical importance for the future," she said.

She travels annually to many provinces to introduce selected
collections of the National Library in universities and to
increase national awareness about the importance of reading.

"Reading should become a habit, a culture. Right now, in
Indonesia, we are still dominated by our culture of oral
traditions," she said.

Most elementary school libraries have only textbooks and study
guides, and not enough fun books to encourage children to love
reading, she said.

"Many feel that reading is a duty. It should not be like that.
Unfortunately, books are still expensive, and school libraries do
not have enough funding to buy more books.

"Reading as a culture should also come from the family. This
is still difficult to accomplish as many parents don't emphasize
the importance of reading in the family," she said.

She helped create a program to send books to remote villages
and towns using "traveling libraries" which are on buses,
motorcycles, bicycles, boats, and ships.

Many local governments work with the National Library so that
books are rotated regularly every week.

"It is wonderful to see the children wait eagerly for the
books to arrive," she said.

Royal family

Mastini, whose nickname is "Nok," was born on July 7, 1923, as
one of eight children, in Mojogedang, Central Java.

She is a descendant of Surakarta's Mangkunegaran royal family.
Her father was the finance minister for Mangkunegoro VII's
government during the colonial days.

It was her father who instilled in her and her family a
passion for reading.

In 1953, a friend asked her to work at the Indonesian Cultural
Institution's (LKI) library.

With the help of the library's director, Dr. Van Der Wouden,
she learned about the library and its system.

Her hard work paid off when she won a scholarship to attend a
one-year nondegree program on library science in the Netherlands
in 1955.

The next year, she traveled in Europe where she saw that
countries like France and Germany had national libraries.

She realized Indonesia needed such a library and it became her
dream.

When she returned to Indonesia, she continued to work at LKI's
library.

The Indonesian government took over in 1962 and changed its
name to the Central Museum Library and Mastini became head of the
library.

She continued as its head and in 1979 it was renamed the
National Museum Library.

She began running courses on library science and
documentation, specifically on cataloging.

Later, she helped develop the University of Indonesia Faculty
of Letters' library science department where she taught for 16
years. She resigned in 1989 because of the demands of her work
with the National Library.

In 1970, she accepted the invitation from the dean of the
University of Hawaii's graduate school of library science, Robert
Stevens, with financial support from Asia Foundation, to attend
the school's graduate program.

Although she did not have an undergraduate degree, the
University of Hawaii felt her accomplishments as a distinguished
librarian exceeded a graduate's credentials.

She obtained her Masters in library science in May 1972. One
of her papers was titled: "The Need for a National Library in
Indonesia."

On her return to Indonesia, she translated this paper in 1973
and it was submitted to the government.

Scholars and the government responded positively to the paper
and the Association of Indonesian Librarians held discussions in
Ciawi.

In 1977 a team of scholars presented a paper, prepared by
Professor Selo Soemardjan, titled: "A Report and Recommendation
on a National Library System and a National Library of
Indonesia".

It led to a decree by the then minister of education, Daoed
Joesoef, in 1980, establishing the National Library of Indonesia.

It was a merger of the National Museum Library, the Library of
History, Politics and Social Sciences, the Bibliography and
Deposit Division-the Center for Library Development, and the
Jakarta Regional Library.

The merger was completed in 1989 in its current location on
Jl. Salemba Raya in Central Jakarta.

In 1989 a presidential decree merged the National Library with
the regional libraries in 26 provinces and the Center for Library
Development, and made the library a non-departmental government
body directly responsible to the President.

This meant it was no longer under the Department of Education
and Culture.

On May 17, 1990, President Soeharto swore in Mastini as Head
of the National Library.