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Director of National Library E. Aminudin Aziz and Director General of Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Achim Bonte at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin after signing an MOU to restore the Nusantara Manuscript. (Photo: Perpusnas) - 

VOInews, Berlin : This collaboration in the library sector is a follow-up to the implementation of one of National Library's National Priority programs for 2024, namely mainstreaming Indonesian manuscripts. This is to create one archipelago manuscript data that is spread throughout the world.

The signing of the cooperation document was carried out by Plt. Director of National Library E. Aminudin Aziz and Director General of Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Achim Bonte at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin Building, Germany, on Wednesday (20/11/2024).

Plt. The Director of the National Library was accompanied by Principal Secretary Joko Santoso, Head of Legal, Organization, Cooperation and Public Relations Bureau Sri Marganingsih, Head of General Affairs Chaerul Umam, and Librarian Anastasia Linawati.

"Currently the National Library is focusing on three National Priority programs. The first is increasing the love of reading, building reading habits and increasing literacy, the second is about mainstreaming Indonesian manuscripts, and the third is library standardization," explained Aminudin.

It was stated that the National Library has many Indonesian manuscripts spread throughout the world and hopes to be able to connect with related parties. This is the reason for signing the collaboration with the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin.

"We believe that many manuscripts from Indonesia exist abroad and we are trying to connect with partners so that the manuscripts can be used for research and understanding the past," he continued.

Meanwhile, Bonte hopes that this collaboration can be followed up in several activities.

"We can jointly build cooperative partnerships in terms of exchanging experts and research, so this is where we signed this collaboration," he explained.

In addition, both parties can exchange information and hold joint exhibitions.

According to a release received by Voice of Indonesia on Friday November 22nd 2024 in Jakarta, the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin stores around 750 Indonesian manuscripts. These manuscripts consist of various media such as European paper, lontar, and others which contain various knowledge. One of the physical Nusantara manuscripts is the Panji Story which is included in UNESCO's Memory of the World (MoW) and is stored at the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin.

With this collaboration, researchers or information users will be given ease in accessing Indonesian manuscripts at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin.
Both parties hope for maximum utilization of information seekers.

Law Number 43 of 2007 concerning Libraries article 42 regarding cooperation states that the National Library is the center of the library network, so the National Library establishes partnerships with domestic and foreign parties//VOI