Libraries should be 'customer-driven': Expert

JAKARTA (JP): University libraries should keep up with changes in information technology and be more "customer-driven" if they are to retain their function as sources of knowledge in their respective institutions, an expert said yesterday.

The application of information technology would ease management which in turn would provide better services to students or customers, Joseph F.P. Luhukay of the Capital Market Reference Center, told The Jakarta Post.

Librarians should be more "entrepreneurial", he said, adding that students might be willing to pay if libraries were to provide good services, such as access to the Internet.

"A library should actively ask customers of their needs and provide them with needed information, that's entrepreneurship," said the computer science expert who is also executive director of Capital Market Society.

The Internet has threatened the existence of some libraries because people can access information directly from the sources, he said.

When asked about present-day college libraries in Indonesia, he said: "Librarians tend to sit about, and find it a nuisance if they have to serve students or visitors."

Joseph was keynote speaker at a five-day workshop which began yesterday to discuss the role of college libraries in the global information era. The meeting was organized by Yarsi University, Jakarta.

Joseph proposed that college libraries test whether or not they lived up to their role as sources of information at their institutions.

"Close down the library for a week, if nobody reacts, then maybe the books are not needed by the university," he said.

University lecturers should encourage students to go to the library to look deeper into subjects taught by reading related books, journals or materials, he said. Students should not rely only on materials given by the lecturer, he added.

Joseph underscored various developments in library management, such as networking, the transformation of books and papers to electronic data and the capability of libraries to develop new sources of funds by providing new services.

Libraries in Indonesia should follow these developments in order to retain their importance as sources of knowledge, he said. (10)