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The XV Congress and National Scientific Seminar in Surabaya, East Java - 

The Indonesian Librarian Association (IPI) held the XV Congress and National Scientific Seminar in Surabaya, East Java.

The activity, which was held on November 1-4, 2022, raised the theme "The Role of Librarians in the National Digital Ecosystem" and was attended by 600 participants from all over Indonesia.

Librarians will face challenges in the future, considering that the era of disruption requires librarians to become mentors, facilitators, motivators, and inspire them to develop the creative imagination needed by the community through information.

"Librarians must play a role in improving the competencies needed by today's society such as critical thinking, creative, communicative and building cooperation in solving problems," explained the Chairperson of the 2018-2021 IPI Central Executive, T. Syamsul Bahri in his remarks at the opening of the event.

According to Syamsul Bahri, global competencies in the era of disruption needed by librarians are the ability to combine digital and printed collections, the ability to access information in various formats, the ability to communicate with others through media that has developed rapidly.

Regarding the theme, the Governor of East Java, Khofifah Indar Parawansa, said that the task of the librarian is not simple.

"The decline in politeness in Indonesia in the digital world is dominated by the adult age group based on the Digital Civility Index report from Microsoft in 2022. The task of librarians is not only to make them love reading, but also to educate them to conduct digital interactions politely," said Khofifah.

Head of the National Library of the Republic of Indonesia (Perpusnas), Muhammad Syarif Bando, stated that nowadays, libraries must change to digital. “Like it or not, like it or not, libraries must transform from manual to digital. Because this is the digital era," he explained.

After the opening ceremony, the Head of National Library expressed his appreciation for the success of East Java province in the field of libraries.

“In recent years, the province of East Java has always been the champion in the development of public libraries. In addition to attending scientific congresses and seminars, librarians from various regions in Indonesia who attend are expected to be able to conduct studies to imitate the success of East Java province in the development of public libraries," he explained.

Furthermore, it was stated that this month, National Library of Indonesia held the National Library Gemilang and National Peer Learning Meeting as part of the Social Inclusion-Based Library Transformation program.

According to a release received by Voice of Indonesia on Wednesday, the XV IPI Congress was arranged in the form of a scientific seminar with speakers from the Ministry of Administrative Reform and Bureaucratic Reform, Ministry of Home Affairs, Head of the National Library of Data and Information Center, Taufiq A. Gani, Indonesian Reading Ambassador, Gol A Gong, East Java Reading Ambassador, Heralda Syafira, motivator for Paso Deka Dewanto, and Universitas Airlangga Rahma Sugihartati.

As well as holding an accountability report for the IPI Central Executive for the 2018-2021 period, selecting new management for the IPI Central Board for the 2022-2025 period, compiling a work program, reviewing AD/ART and code of ethics, and making a working visit to the East Java provincial library.

IPI is a non-profit organization that was founded on July 6, 1973 as a forum for librarians with the aim of increasing the professionalism of Indonesian librarians, developing library and information science, devoting and practicing the power and expertise of librarians for the nation and state as well as promoting and providing protection to members//VOI