US$5m for regional library improvement

Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Good news for book-loving students and community members in the regions: The government, in cooperation with the World Bank, will launch a US$5 million project to improve school and community libraries in three provinces starting next year.

The program, which will be co-ordinated by the National Library (Perpusnas), will open greater opportunities for the active participation of locals.

"There are many community and school libraries in the regions that cannot develop due to financial limitations. We will provide them with funds so that they can design programs to improve their libraries," Woro Titi, the project manager told The Jakarta Post on Monday on the sidelines of the 11th Working Meeting of the Indonesian Library Association (IPI) at the Perpusnas.

Funded by the World Bank, the project will be launched in various parts of South Sumatra, West Nusa Tenggara, and Central Java provinces and operate between 2002 and 2004. It involves some 550 community libraries and 220 elementary school libraries.

The World Bank has provided US$5 million to finance the project.

According to Woro, the project was also aimed at encouraging wider public participation and raising local administrations' awareness of the importance of libraries.

Each community library will receive initial funds of Rp 6 million per semester and subsequent funds of Rp 4 million per semester. Elementary libraries will each receive an initial Rp 5 million per semester and Rp 3.5 million per subsequent semester.

The funds, Woro said, would be sent directly to each library through banks or post offices, to make sure that the funds were actually received by the intended recipients.

Under the project, the participating libraries are free to design their own programs, which could include buying books, renovating their facilities or financing new activities such as campaigns to improve public reading habits and fund raisers.

The project also includes training for librarians to help them run their libraries properly and professionally.

A management team will be set up in each library. The team will involve members of the public, such as parents at school libraries and community leaders at community libraries.

"Naturally, we want the public to play an active role. It will teach them to manage their library independently and not to depend on the government," Woro remarked.

The presence of community members in the library management teams will also act as a control mechanism to ensure the funds are not misused. However, Perpusnas, the World Bank and the Development and Finance Comptroller (BPKP) will still monitor the project closely.

The project also requires local administrations to provide support, ranging from funds to facilities.

"Therefore, even after the project has finished, the libraries will continue to operate with the support of the public and the local administrations."

"The project is worth the effort. We want the public and the local administrations to see that libraries are important and should be appreciated," Woro said.