Librarians asked to widen knowledge

Librarians asked to widen knowledge

JAKARTA (JP): Vice President Try Sutrisno yesterday told Indonesian librarians to broaden their knowledge and keep up with scientific and technological advances.

Opening the seventh congress and national seminar of the Indonesian Librarians Association, Try said Indonesia needs "a great number of quality librarians" in order to deal with the rapid flow of information and scientific development.

"Only professional librarians can manage libraries well and provide good services to the public," Try told some 1,000 participants.

Soekarman Kartosedono, the chairman of the librarians association, said the four-day congress would tackle a broad range of issues including techniques to instill strong reading habits in young people.

He said that one of the greatest obstacles to recruiting good librarians is poor pay. Librarians employed by the state are paid one-fifth of the salaries of researchers and teachers, he said.

Soekarman said Indonesia will be host to an international congress of librarians in 2005; a total of 130 countries will participate in the gathering.

In another part of his speech, Try spoke of the government's campaign to educate the public by establishing libraries across the country.

According to 1993 statistics, there are about 15,000 government libraries. Indonesia's population currently stands at 190 million.

It was with the goal of educating the public in mind that the government issued a law in 1990 which requires publishers and record producers to submit a number of copies of their products to national libraries, he said.

"In accordance with this law, we expect that printed materials and recordings will be stored, and thus become more easily accessible to the public," he said.

Librarians have long complained about the lax enforcement of the 1990 Law on Printed Materials and Recordings. Last week, the National Central Library in Jakarta announced the establishment of a team to intensify the campaign to push publishers and recording companies to comply with the law.

This team, which is due to start work in February, will start by reminding publishers and producers that they face a maximum fine of Rp 5 million (US$ 2,200) or a six-month jail sentence unless they submit at least two copies of their products no later than three months after publication.

Ediyami Bondan Andoko, who heads the Department for the Preservation and Deposit of materials at the National Library, told The Jakarta Post that the library has yet to take legal action against publishers or producers who have failed to comply with the law.

"We have been biding our time in our campaign to introduce the law," Ediyami said.

She said many publishers and producers are still ignorant of the law. "There are those who already know, but ignore it anyway," she said. "There are also publishers who submit only low-priced books to the library. Books with prices over Rp 50,000 are not being submitted to the National Library."

Since the law was passed, the National Library has only received about 33,000 books and magazines and around 10,000 recordings from publishers and producers.

The campaign has been conceived to raise public awareness of the law through televised talk shows, among other things. Publishers, librarians, books and magazines importers, recording companies, law enforcers and the public will be involved in the drive. (swe/31)