Public lacks appreciation of libraries, officials say

JAKARTA (JP): Librarians are lamenting the lack of appreciation for libraries amid all the hubbub about globalization.

Libraries will play an increasingly important role in the globalization era as a provider of information and "he who has information will win", Hernandono, head of the National Library, said.

"Only about 1 percent of the total population of 210 million visit libraries daily," he told a news conference held to commemorate the library's 20th anniversary on Tuesday.

Currently between 600 to 700 people visit the National Library in Central Jakarta every day.

Another library official, Rachmat Natadjumena, said the World Bank was willing to lend US$5 million to fund the development of 385 libraries in 11 regencies in Central Java, South Sumatra and West Nusa Tenggara.

The fund will be used to, among other things, add to the libraries' collections. In each regency 35 libraries will be assisted, including 25 elementary school libraries.

Rachmat said research by the bank shows that the three provinces are the most ready for the project, meaning that people there will be able to continue the projects on their own once the funding stopped.

Since 1980, the National Library has set up provincial national libraries in 25 provinces, an official said.

"Ordinary people are steeped in drama, storytelling, music and crafts -- not literature," Paul Permadi, the library's officer in charge of collection development and information services, said.

A librarian in Jakarta said despite Internet services people would still need conventional library services. "Many people still don't understand English, which is needed in surfing the web," Lies said.

Education expert Mochtar Buchori told The Jakarta Post that the culture to seek knowledge orally is still more popular.

"That's why the culture of gossip blooms here," he added.

Hernandono said the Rp 11 billion allocated from the 2000 state budget for the operation of the library made it impossible to provide adequate maintenance for its collection of 1.2 million printed works.

Dutch expert P.M. Poldervaart, who visited the library recently, said about 75 percent of some 10,000 old books and manuscripts there needed immediate restoration due to their bad condition.

Rachmat said none of the old collections had been insured. (08)