Rotten rules

Rotten rules

From Kompas

Kompas (April 13, 1996) published a letter by Anang R. Noer complaining about the services of the National Library. In his response to the letter (Kompas, April 20, 1996), Sudirwan Hamid, an official of the library, said among other things: "The National Library has been a closed access library...etc. Every library, including those in foreign countries, is run based on certain regulations which cannot be violated."

When I lived in the U.S. some time ago, I found that no public libraries applied a closed-access system. In California, I was free to browse in every corner of the state library, in spite of the fact that I am not an American citizen, nor was I a member of any library.

Even in the Library of Congress, the most well-known library in the world, due to its open-access system anyone, including vagabonds, can read in the library, only they have to deposit their belongings at the deposit counter first.

I would like to ask how a closed-access library can enhance people's intellectual capacity? Closed access must be applied only to specific books that cannot be made available to the public for political reasons. The management of every library should ensure that the public has a sense of belonging.

I think, as a consequence of this, we should adopt the motto of foreign libraries: Books are better read and lost in the hands of the readers rather than rot in a library.

REINHARD PARDEDE

Tangerang, West Java