“Village libraries are built to improve the literacy of the community, especially students in rural areas, whose access to library facilities and infrastructure is hard,” Perpusnas Acting Head E. Aminudin Aziz stated in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, on Thursday (February 15).
Aziz made the statement after attending the Library Development Coordination Meeting of South Kalimantan event.
According to Aziz, village governments will appoint officers to manage the libraries.
In addition, the village libraries will be supported by several programs, such as the Social Inclusion-Based Library Transformation (TPBIS) Program at 600 selected locations as well as the community reading parks (TBM).
"In the libraries, (people) will be taught how to read aloud, tell stories, and write reviews, including writing reports," he remarked.
He explained that village libraries and school libraries should collaborate by swapping their collections, so that the library visitors do not sense boredom with their book collections.
He further explained that the regions' library offices will manage libraries in villages, while libraries in schools are managed by the local language offices.
In addition to building village libraries, Perpusnas is preparing mobile libraries for regions that have not received assistance.
Aziz stated that the step is taken to create equality for regions that do not yet have mobile libraries, so that literacy can reach people in remote areas.
However, the program was budgeted for the following year after the National Library held a meeting with the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) and the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology.
"This year, what we are prioritizing is the construction of village libraries. I hope this program can strengthen the reading culture and the literacy of the nation's successors," he remarked.
Related news: National Library focusing on three programs to boost literacy
Related news: Perpusnas to distribute books to 10,000 rural libraries
Related news: National Library shares best practices with Colombo Plan countries
Translator: Tumpal Andani, Raka Adji
Editor: Azis Kurmala
Copyright © ANTARA 2024
