The Indonesian Librarian Day and the 47th Anniversary Celebration of Indonesian Library Association

The Indonesian Librarian Day and the 47th Anniversary Celebration of Indonesian Library Association.

The Indonesian Library Association (ILA) celebrated its 47th Anniversary on Tuesday, July 7, 2020 and announced officially the ILA’s Anniversary day as   Indonesian Librarian Day.  The celebration took place at the National Library of Indonesia, Jakarta.  The theme of this year’s anniversary is “Librarian: the Past,the Present, and the Future”.  The event was hosted by Rifa Fadilah, S.Sos  and it began with a prayer recited by Dr. Zulfikar Zen, M.A, the Vice President of ILA. It then followed by the event preparation report by Chair

One of the Association, Mr. Robinson Rusdi S.H.  The opening speeches were given by

ILA’s President, Mr. T. Syamsul Bahri, S.H., M.Si  and the  Director of the National Library of Indonesia, Drs. Muhammad Syarif Bando, MM as the Head Advisor of ILA.

In his prayer Dr. Zulfikar Zen wished God gives His mercy to Indonesian librarianship and blesses Indonesian librarians in their professional responsibilities as stated in “

Asta Etika  Pustakawan” (Librarian’s Eight Codes of Ethics). Dr Zen also wished that

God will favour all Indonesian librarians who had been actively contributing to the advancement of Indonesian librarianship.

Mr. Robinson Rusdi then reported that the total number of participants of this event was 2067 people consisting librarians, lecturers, students, and literacy activists.  As the Zoom virtual meeting system could only accommodate 500 “live” participants, the rest were invited to join the event from YouTube link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zspnsXGnI_4. Mr. Rusdi further reported that as suggested by the Director of the National Library of Indonesia, ILA has asked all regional ILA’s members to write opinions and articles on ILA’s anniversary and Indonesian Librarian Day in mass media.

ILA’s President, Mr. Syamsulbahri stated that ILA continues to strive to improve Indonesian librarian’s competencies.  It is expected that competencies enhancement will support Indonesian librarians’ roles to serve the library users better. The theme of the anniversary: Librarian  : Past , Present  and Future,  implies the spirit of moving forward to face a very dynamic and fast-changing future without leaving the understanding of the basic values and characteristics of the organization, as developed by senior librarians in the past, and being continuously developed by current librarians. Indonesian librarians keep nurturing and educating young cadres who will become the successor to the practice of Indonesian librarianship in the future, and who will introduce and bring the name of Indonesia Library Association to the international community, to become a professional organization that is known at the national, regional and international levels.

In his speech the Director of NLI emphasized that Indonesian librarians in national and regional level should be more active in contributing to the development of the nation. Indonesian librarians need to continuously ensure that public has easy access to information in dealing with national issues. The anniversary celebration went on with a traditional procession of “tumpeng cuts” (tumpeng is a traditional cone shaped rice dish decorated with vegetables and meat, mystically symbolizes of life and its ecosystems). The ILA President offered the first cut of tumpeng to the Director of NLI witnessed by ILA’s Board of Advisors.

The Anniversary celebration continued with an International Webinar moderated by Chair Two of ILA, Utami B.R. Hariyadi. The webinar featured three speakers, ILA Advisor, Professor Dr. Sulistyo-Basuki, MA., M.SLS., Ph.D  IFLA President,  Ms. Christine Mackenzie, and Chairman of  ILA South Kalimantan region, Dr. Ahmad Syawqi.

In his presentation, Prof. Sulistyo Basuki explained about the historical journey of library associations and organizations in Indonesia before the establishment of Ikatan Pustakawan Indonesia abbreviated as IPI and translated in English as Indonesian Library Association, on July 7,1973. Prof. Sulistyo stressed out that in future, IPI should be more independent and continue to contribute to the creation of guidelines and standards on librarianship.

IFLA President, Ms. Mackenzie explained that there are some important roles of librarian/library associations such as expanding the librarian network, developing librarian personal and professional competencies, supporting the advocacy and legislation in nationally and globally, as well as supporting professional practices at the international level. She attended the event virtually and presented her pre-recorded video from Australia.

The last speaker, Dr. Syawqi, explained the importance of libraries and librarians transformation aligning with current development. Librarians should always adapt themselves with the advancement of technology and ensure that visions and insights of library user community continues to improve. Dr. Syawqi also pointed out the importance of instilling religious values to motivate librarians in performing their duties.

The ILA Anniversary Celebration and International Webinar was officially closed by the Librarian Coordinator of the National Library of Indonesia, Drs. Dedi Junaedi, M.Sc.

The anniversary celebration was attended by all Advisors and Committee Members of Indonesian Library Association, virtually by 500 attendees via Zoom, and was watched live by more than one thousand participants on the YouTube channel of the National Library of Indonesia. The ILA Anniversary celebration was also reported by twenty-five online media namely: www.liputan6.com, www.inews.id, www.rakyatpos.com, www.sindonews.com www.republika.co.id, www.harianaceh.co.id, www.fajarpendidikan.co.id, www.harianaceh.co.id

The whole coverage of the 47^th Anniversary Celebration of Ikatan Pustakawan Indonesia and Hari Pustakawan Indonesia is available at bit.ly/webinaripi07072020