The National Library (Perpusnas) is again holding an annual library competition which is a form of appreciation and appreciation for libraries in Indonesia.
This year, the Best Public Library Competition (Village/Kelurahan) and the 2024 National Level Best Advanced School/Madrasah Library Competition were held in pandemic conditions. Therefore, the assessment is carried out by a team of judges online.
“The main aim of establishing a village library is as a means to increase knowledge and reading skills in order to make the lives of village communities more intelligent,” said National Library Library Resource Development Deputy Deni Kurniadi, when opening the online competition, on Monday
Deni said that libraries, both village/district libraries and school libraries, in national development have a big contribution to building a knowledge society. Libraries have been used as information centers, sources of knowledge, research, recreation, preserving the nation’s cultural treasures, as well as providing various other services.
Village/district libraries have a role to support this, namely as centers of knowledge to encourage innovation and creativity in society, especially in rural areas. Village/sub-district libraries also have a role as a center for community empowerment, so they must be able to develop literacy-based community potential to advance and preserve culture.
Deni added that school libraries have a significant role in building and developing students’ literacy culture. “The school library is a storehouse of knowledge and information, it should be a learning resource used by teachers and students in carrying out learning,” he continued.
The library competition is expected to encourage literacy champions to play a greater role in improving the quality of Indonesia’s human resources, through literacy skills that increase people’s creativity and reduce poverty in access to information.
This year, libraries from 34 provinces participated in the competition for the best public library (village/kelurahan). Meanwhile, the competition for the best high school/madrasah library was attended by 15 provinces which had gone through a file assessment.