UNS — The Technical Implementing Unit of Library Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta held a National Webinar on ‘Library in Cross Roads of Civilization’. The webinar was held online through the Zoom Cloud Meeting, Tuesday (6/7/2021). Two speakers were invited to the webinar: Dr. Sutanto S.Si., DEA, and Ida Fajar Priyanto, M.A., Ph.D. Participants that consist of UNS students and librarians from various universities showed high enthusiasm. In total, there were around 245 participants that attend the webinar.
Opening the webinar, the Chief of UNS Library, Burhanudin Harahap, S.H., M.H., M.Si., Ph.D., hoped that the library could become a source of knowledge that is not bound by place and time. The library is a source of light that could brighten all sides of life. “Library is an institution which has existed for a long time but often marginalized, except those located in school or universities,” Burhanudin stated.
Further, he added that the library faces complex challenges amid technology development. He thinks the library should become a source of information that is accountable morally and academically. The library should adopt new concepts amid the development to be able to survive. Supporting Burhanudin Harahap’s statement, Ida Fajar Priyanto, M.A., Ph.D., stated that the library experiences changes amid the pandemic. Through his material on ‘Library, Changes, and Future’, the Information Management faculty member and Librarian at UGM Postgraduate School stated that pandemics had changed community order. “Library needs to change. If it doesn’t change, the library cannot follow the development,” Ida Fajar Priyanto stated.
He thinks that the pandemic has accelerated the changes from (pre)history to hyper-history, which can be observed from digitalization in a library. Digitalization poses a challenge for a librarian in providing services to attract more visitors. Librarians should maintain library websites and provide exciting news and information there. The Postgraduate School librarian is also commenting on the Indonesian library social media account, which is often filled with a wall of texts instead of interesting visual content.
Ida Fajar Priyanto also discussed e-journal access in the university library and how librarian should manage their information channel to provide appropriate but not flooding information. He explained that information overload would reduce people’s attention toward information, as mentioned by Simon in 1971. In the next normal era, the library also needs to consider e-education, which started to be implemented at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Changes that libraries could consider are providing virtual librarians, easy access, collection visibility, services visibility, and online services for academic literacy.
Besides adjusting the library with the development, the librarian also has a role in growing people’s curiosity and thus increasing library visitations. “As a librarian, don’t just open a library and invite to read a book. Grow people’s inquiry,” Dr. Sutanto, the Director of Academic Reputation and Student Affairs UNS, stated. Through inquiry, a person will go to the questioning stage, followed by thinking and learning. Therefore, inquiry should be developed to ensure the survival of the library. Humas UNS
Reporter: Alinda Hardiantoro
Editor: Dwi Hastuti