Since 1995, the 14th of September has been celebrated as the National Library Visitation Day in Indonesia. This celebration was created to motivate Indonesians so that they’ll often read and go to the library. According to Perpusnas’ official website, September is also celebrated as the Fond of Reading Month, so it is hoped that with the existence of these two commemorations, Indonesians’ reading interest and literacy can increase.
Data from Perpusnas shows that by 2023, there’s a total of 178.723 libraries spread across Indonesia. Some of them are libraries in educational institutions, e.g. universities. In Universitas Padjadjaran, there’s a central library called Kandaga and also libraries in each faculty. These facilities are created to accommodate students who want to read, ranging from those who want to read novels to those who need references from nonfiction materials.
Putu Nanda Pratama is a class of 2021 Communication Science student who often visits the faculty library. He’s motivated by its contents that are complete and useful to be used while studying in class. The comfortable environment is also one of the reasons why he likes to be there for a long period of time. Comfortability from either the staffs’ hospitality or from its cleanliness helps him in keeping his focus while reading or working on an assignment.
Phany Armenila Hutabarat, a class of 2023 Communication Science student, also often visits the library. She’s interested in visiting it when she needs to find books or references that can help her do her assignments. She’s not that familiar with the faculty library because she tends to go to Kandaga, but there’s this one time when she accompanied her friend there and she likes the locker system they use to store backpacks or unnecessary belongings. She also loves how quiet it is there. She thinks that the peacefulness of the place can help in keeping one’s concentration.
The existence of libraries in universities is a huge help for students, not just to help them study but also to increase their literacy skills. So, to commemorate the National Library Visitation Day, let’s pay a visit to libraries and utilise the various forms of knowledge that are held within so that we can become quality citizens. Happy 29th National Library Visitation Day! (Ed)