2nd Executive Board in News

CONSAL EXECUTIVE BOARD 2nd MEETING: The Charm of Toba Lake, Build Up Librarianship in Indonesia

Medan, North Sumatra - The National Library of Indonesia (Perpusnas) has held the second meeting of the Executive Board (EB) members of the Congress of Southeast Asian Librarians (Consal), participated by directors of National Libraries, President and Secretary General of Library Associations in Southeast Asia from April 19 to 22, 2011 in Medan, North Sumatra. The Indonesian delegation was led by the Director of Perpusnas Hj. Sri Sularsih accompanied by Vice-Chairman of Indonesian Librarian Association (PP-IPI) Zulfikar Zen and the Secretary General of PP-IPI Bambang Supriyo Utomo. The event which took place at JW Marriott Hotel Medan was attended by representatives from 10 ASEAN countries including Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam and also Timor Leste as an observer country.

 

According to the Director of Perpusnas, Consal holds the General Conference once every three years in rotation. Indonesia has been the host of the Conference in 1976 in Bandung and in Jakarta in 1990 which was directly opened by the President of Indonesia. For the upcoming 15th Consal General Conference, Indonesia will again act as the host. The conference is planned to be held in Bali in May 2011. The Conference is scheduled to be opened by the President of Indonesia and estimated to be attended by five hundred to a thousand librarians. "So, our visit to Medan is a form of preparation for the 15th General Congress Consal in Bali in May 2012," she said.

 

The theme that will be carried at the Consal General Conference in Bali is `National Heritage: Preservation and Dissemination�. "A lot of local culture, folklore and old literature are still stored. It must be appointed and utilized for the sake of the nation`s cultural richness," she said. Meanwhile, according to Vice-Chairman of the PP-IPI Zulfikar Zen, every year Consal holds the Executive Board meeting. The first meeting of Consal XV was held in 2010 at Jayakarta Hotel, Bandung, West Java, and the second meeting was held in Medan. Zulfikar Zen who is also a lecturer in the Department of Library & Information Science, University of Indonesia explained, Consal was founded in 1970 in Singapore in order to establish cooperation among librarians in Southeast Asia. Consal membership that is called as the Executive Board of each member country consists of three persons. In Indonesia, the Executive Board consists of the Director of Perpusnas, Chairman and Secretary General of PP-IPI.

 

The Main Secretary of Perpusnas Dedi Junaedi also said that the 14th Consal General Conference was held in Vietnam, and the 13th Conference was held in Manila, Philippines. He also added that the 15th General Conference to is the responsibility of Indonesian government. "The trust that is given to us as the host country for the Consal General Conference will be used to prepare it maximumly for the success of the National Library of Indonesia and Indonesian Library Association," he said.

 

Resource persons who will attend the Conference in Bali in coming year are not only the members of Consal, but there will be also `invited speakers` from USA and European countries. "We hope such meeting will have a positive impact on society and give competence to librarians who want to develop reading interest in Indonesia which is still low," he said.

 

The Executive Board members after holding the second meeting to discuss final preparations for the General Conference 2012 in Bali, were given the opportunity to visit Toba Lake and Samosir Island. The following day they also visited Library, Archive and Documentation Board of North Sumatera, Maimun Palace, Rahmat Syah Wildlife Museum, and University of North Sumatra Library.

 

Meanwhile, Head of Library, Archives and Documentation Board of North Sumatra Nurdin Pane hoped the visit of Consal Executive Board could be considered as cultural visit. Such activity also could increase the motivation of North Sumatera Library more in the future. He also expressed his readiness to succeed the 15th Consal General Conference which is going to be held in May 2012 in Bali. "Participants will share knowledge and experience of library systems in other countries," he said.

 

Nurdin explained when Consal Executive Board membes visit the Library Board of North Sumatra, many participants wanted to know the ancient collections and public service in North Sumatra Library. They were also impressed by the digital library collection that has 1.000 titles and 16.000 entries that can be accessed anywhere. Nurdin Pane also added, the meeting can give positive impact on society and especially it will brings out the motivation for the librarians of North Sumatra to grow better in the future.