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Acting Head of the National Library E. Aminudin Aziz giving his welcoming speech at the the Nugra Jasa Dharma Pustaloka award ceremony, (Photo : Perpusnas) - 

VOInews, Jakarta : The National Library awarded the Nugra Jasa Dharma Pustaloka award. The award was given at the 2024 Gemilang Library literacy celebration, Friday, (20/9/2024).

Nugra Jasa Dharma Pustaloka (NJDP) is the highest form of appreciation for parties who have worked hard to increase the love of reading and literacy through reading materials and library utilization.

The NJDP was given to six categories, namely literacy activists, literacy communities, literacy districts/cities, ancient manuscript preservers, mass media and journalists.

Apart from NJDP, at the same moment awards will also be given from a number of competitions and elections held by the National Library, such as the National Level Speaking Competition for Elementary/MI Students, Best SMA/SMK/MA Library Competition, College Library Innovation Competition, Book Selection Best (Librarian), and National Best Achievement Librarian 2024.

Literacy has become a topic and is always interesting to discuss. In fact, in the last decade, the government has included literacy as a development focus or priority.

So, starting in 2024 the National Library is trying to restructure the program so that public access to qualified reading sources is achieved well.

"Our restructuring focuses on three major aspects which are priorities, namely developing reading culture and literacy skills, mainstreaming Indonesian manuscripts, and library standardization and accreditation," said Acting Head of the National Library E. Aminudin Aziz last night.

According to a release received by Voice of Indonesia on Friday September 20th 2024 in Jakarta, the reason why Perpusnas focus on these points are First, the results of developing Indonesian people's literacy skills are still not encouraging when compared with reference countries.

The level of interest in reading is not yet completely good due to the low availability of reading materials that are correct and in accordance with the interests and needs of prospective readers.

Therefore, National Library strengthens 10 thousand village/sub-district libraries and TBMs throughout Indonesia by providing quality books and display shelves. Each village library/TBM will be provided with 1,000 copies of books and various training and assistance to library/TBM managers regarding optimal use of books.

Second, National Library realizes that there are still many libraries that do not have uniform facilities, including management competency standards that still need to be improved.

Therefore, we are massively implementing accreditation of library institutions, implementing training, and technical guidance for library managers at the school library and TBM levels. We also provide similar things to library staff to increase their competency with certification programs and competency tests.

Third, Indonesia has many ancient manuscripts (manuscripts) from the archipelago that have not been well preserved. In fact, some are still neglected and unused. Of course, this is a concern, especially since many Indonesian manuscripts are traded through the black market.

Through the program of mainstreaming Indonesian manuscripts, the National Library carries out efforts to conserve and digitize manuscripts (media transfer), as well as convert tens of thousands of manuscripts so that the content in these ancient manuscripts can be used to improve the quality of life of the community.

"We realize that manuscripts are often seen as useless, on the one hand, but considered "heavy" on the other hand, especially by the younger generation," added Aminudin.

For these reasons, National Library is trying to visualize ancient manuscripts into story books/comics with the hope that from a young age they will know and understand the content of Indonesian manuscripts.

National Library's efforts in preserving and utilizing ancient manuscripts received appreciation from world institutions by being awarded the UNESCO-Jikji Memory of the World Prize 2024 by UNESCO with the support of the South Korean Government//VOI