World Bank provides US$5m book loan for three provinces

JAKARTA (JP): The World Bank has agreed to provide a US$5 million "Learning Innovation Loan" for the National Library to buy new books for three provinces.

The library's head Hernandono disclosed on Wednesday that the loan will be distributed evenly to provincial libraries in Central Java, West Nusa Tenggara and South Sumatra.

"Those three provinces were chosen because there are more human resources there compared to other provinces," he said in a hearing with House of Representatives' Commission VI for Education and Health Affairs.

The loan, Hernandono said, will be paid over 40 years with 0.75 percent interest without management fee.

"All the money will be used to buy books. Each provincial administration is accountable for renovation or construction of its library building," he said.

During the hearing, Hernandono also proposed a 55 percent budget increase to Rp 60 billion for the next fiscal year from Rp 39 billion this year on grounds that the 2001 fiscal year will cover 12 months, three months longer than the current financial year. Besides, the national library lacks funds to carrying out its programs, he said.

"Our collection of books for instance, is still far below standard. Normally, the ratio between readers and books is 10 percent which means there are 10 books for one reader. But here, there's only one book for between 40 and 100 readers," he added.

To overcome the budget shortcoming, the library has cooperated with other institutions like Ministry of National Education, City Administration, Universities and the Rotary Club. It has also entered relations with the Amsterdam-based Rijksmuseum and the Conference Directors National Library of Asia and Oceania (CDNLAO).

For the 2001 budget, the National Library has several priorities, including preserving and increasing the book collection, cataloging and transforming the bibliographies to digital format, automating library service and improving staff capabilities.

During the hearing, legislators urged library management to pay more attention to remote provinces and regions.

"When we visited Palu in Central Sulawesi, we were surprised that the residents are so fond of reading they visit the library regularly, regardless of the building's poor condition," said legislator Sambas Soerjadi of Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan).

Hernandono denied allegations that his policy is discriminative. To prove his remark, he said his office has plans to build libraries in West Kalimantan, East Kalimantan and Southeast Sulawesi. (09)