UNS — A nation will be advanced if its young generation loves reading. Not only reading but also the awareness of buying original books circulating in bookstores, not pirated books or PDFs of illegal books that have been circulating lately. Starting from this concern on literacy level, Fadiah Azmi Rahmasari, a student from Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta, established a mini reading place entitled Akwayan Pustaka. “As I interpret, ‘Akwayan Pustaka’ means that befriending books. Akwayan in Sanskrit means ‘friend’ or ‘buddy’ while ‘Pustaka’ means books. The main reason for deciding this is to motivate my self to treat books properly. Because by reading each character in a book can open the veil of ignorance regarding a subject,” explains the girl who is often called Azmi, Wednesday (9/9/2020).
Akwayan Pustaka is a place to borrow free books, which available for those residing in Solo and its surrounding regions. There is no charge for the borrower book here. Even more, there is no borrowing time limit for borrowers, thus they can borrow books at will without fear of being penalized for exceeding the borrowing time limit. In fact, Azmi does not get any guarantee when lending books to people. Azmi trust that borrowers will not take away her collections. “Insyaallah, the borrowers are Amanah (trusted). Just trust each other. After all, those who took the book away is the one losing,” says Azmi, who is a student from the Chemistry Education Study Program.
The Akwayan Pustaka is started in 2013, at that time Azmi’s collection is quite a lot, thus to tidy it up, Azmi put all of the collection in a box, which is then displayed in the living room. This way, the book is read by her father’s customers. Azmi is inspired by Ganesa Library in Kartasura. “This initiative was inspired by Ganesa Library located in Songgolangit, Pajang, Kartasura. This library is located on the second floor, while a car wash and reparation on its first floor. Hence, its customers can go to the library when they are bored,” explain Azmi.
In 2016, Azmi’s book started to gain attention from Azmi’s tutoring students. Slowly, the book collection also garnered more attention from the teenagers, who love to visit Akwayan Pustaka. This condition went on until March 31st, 2020, Azmi began to open and announce the existence of Akwayan Pustaka to the public.
She began promoting her mini library through online media, due to her anxiety toward pirated books she found in her friends’ social media status during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, she opens Akwayan Pustaka to the public to reduce the distribution of the pirated book pdf. Currently, Azmi is acting as the owner and admin of the Akwayan Pustaka, assisted by her two younger siblings, who handle the book administration data and design knick-knacks there. Now, Azmi also gains support from her family members. The mini library located in Jalan Semeru Utama No.4 or behind the Dr. Oen Kandang Sapi Hospital, Surakarta, is now become a part of the community.
Akwayan Pustaka is now adorned with 200 books from various genres such as kids collection, teenager, to adult book category. There are also novels, motivations books, and religious manuscripts. To borrow the book borrower only need to access the link provided in the Akwayan Instagram account (@akwayanpustaka) to check its collection and then contacting the person in charge.
The initiative made by Azmi is a positive breakthrough from UNS students amid the low book literacy in the community. Hopefully, Azmi’s step by establishing Akwayan Pustaka will continue to grow and spread its benefits.
“Now, you have no more excuse for not reading books. No need to buy, no charge for borrowing, no charge for overtime, and it’s all free. All you need is click, check, and confirm. Afterward, the books will be right in front of you,” Azmi said. Humas UNS
Reporter: Zalfaa Azalia Pursita
Editor: Dwi Hastuti
