VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

18 delegates from eleven countries as well as four participants from Indonesia visit the TPBIS implementation pilot village in the largest district in DIY (Photo : Perpusnas) - 

Voinews, Yogyakarta : A total of 22 delegates from Colombo Plan member countries took part in a comparative study of the Social Inclusion Based Library Transformation Program (TPBIS) in Gunungkidul Regency, Yogyakarta Special Region, on Thursday (15/8/2024).

A total of 18 delegates from eleven countries, namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, as well as four participants from Indonesia had the opportunity to visit the TPBIS implementation pilot village in the largest district in DIY.

According to a release received by Voice of Indonesia on Thursday (15/08/24), the delegates saw directly various products resulting from the TPBIS training program that the community took part in in the village/district library, such as splattered batik, vegetables from cultivation, and various handicrafts. The delegation also took part in batik training which was held at the Balai Pintar Library, Pengkol Village, Gunungkidul Regency.

On the previous day, the delegates took part in a similar activity in Magelang Regency. This activity is a series of Knowledge Sharing Programs on Library Transformation Based on Social Inclusion (TPBIS) or Knowledge Sharing Program on Library Transformation Based on Social Inclusion which is a collective effort of the National Library of the Republic of Indonesia (Perpusnas) with the Ministry of State Secretariat, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Colombo Plan .

The activity, which was attended by delegations from Colombo Plan member countries, which was held in DIY on 12-17 August 2024, carried the theme "Leveraging the Role of Public Libraries in Strengthening Local Communities: Best Practices".

Head of the Legal, Organizational, Cooperation and Public Relations Bureau of the National Library, Sri Marganingsih, said that this activity was a good momentum to strengthen cooperation between Colombo Plan member countries. The presence of delegations from eleven friendly countries will strengthen the commitment to collaborate in the fields of education, health, human resource development and social inclusion.

"This Social Inclusion Based Library Transformation Program is very relevant to the challenges currently facing our friendly countries. "Transformation requires us to create an inclusive environment so that people have equal access to education and opportunities for self-development," he added.

He also mentioned the importance of international cooperation in facing global challenges. He emphasized that holding activities this year is the National Library's commitment to continue developing initiatives that can provide benefits to the community in each Colombo Plan participating country.

Lecturer at the Master of Information and Library Management Study Program at the Graduate School of Gadjah Mada University, Ida Fajar Priyanto, explained the implementation of the TPBIS program in collaboration with universities.

He said that one of the TPBIS program activities was to provide training for library managers and librarians to help the community and provide training in various skills and expertise. However, he said, in several villages in Gunungkidul Regency, the implementation of the TPBIS program is not only limited to efforts to create innovations or products, but also in the form of efforts to preserve culture.

"One of them is at the Kamadang Public Library, Tanjungsari, where people can take part in training to preserve Javanese traditional music culture using simple musical instruments," he explained.

This is in line with what students from the Gadjah Mada University Graduate School of Information and Library Management Master's Study Program collaborated with various village libraries in Gunungkidul Regency. One of them is through batik training at the village library. According to him, collaboration like this can provide benefits for all parties.

"Through support from universities, programs in village libraries can run well, students will also be able to gain a lot of knowledge and knowledge from the library and community which can then be expressed in research or writing," he said.

Expert Staff to the Regent of Gunungkidul for Legal and Human Rights, Wahyu Nugroho, said that the Gunungkidul Regency Government, through the library and archives service, had succeeded in implementing the TPBIS program in 60 village/sub-district libraries.

"We hope that through the Knowledge Sharing Program on Library Transformation Based on Social Inclusion activities carried out in Gunungkidul Regency this can be an example for other countries. "And we open the widest possible opportunities for cooperation to share experiences and knowledge with various parties," he concluded//VOI