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