Establishing an online bookstore together could be one of the solutions."Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Vice President M. Jusuf Kalla has called on members of the Association of Indonesian Publishers (Ikapi) to align the book production business with developments in the digital age.
"When it enters the digital age, it should approach it in a different manner. Establishing an online bookstore together could be one of the solutions," VP Kalla remarked while opening the National Congress of Ikapi on Thursday.
The vice president cited the example of Amazons chain of retail stores from the United States, which had switched from the online sale of books to selling a variety of goods all across the world.
"Evidently, Amazon has switched to other commodities and not just books as a result of which it has become one of the largest companies in the field of online retail," he pointed out.
Ikapi is organizing its fifth National Congress in Ancol, North Jakarta, from Thursday to Saturday.
One of the issues to be discussed during the congress is related to the availability of books that can be downloaded for free.
Chairman of Ikapi Lucya Andam Dewi believes that this trend can cause a decline in interest for reading among the public.
"Continuous developments are taking place in the digital stream in the book industry. There is a boom in online media that is providing free information is posing a classic problem, such as diminished interest in reading books," noted Lucya.
(Uu.A014/INE/KR-BSR/H-YH)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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