Indonesia to build 10,000 village libraries this year

Students read books at a library in the Daru train station in Tangerang, Banten province, on September 9, 2023. (Photo: Antara)

Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesia’s National Library (Perpusnas) aims to build 10,000 village libraries across the country in the fiscal year 2024 to improve the literacy of the community.

Perpusnas Acting Director E. Aminudin Aziz on February 16 said that the village libraries are built to improve the literacy of the community, especially students in rural areas, whose access to library facilities and infrastructure is limited.

According to Aziz, village governments will appoint officers to manage the libraries and support people in accessing books.

In addition, the village libraries will be supported by several programmes, such as the Social Inclusion-Based Library Transformation (TPBIS) Programme at 600 selected locations as well as the community reading parks (TBM).

Village and school libraries should collaborate by swapping their collections. The regions' library offices will manage libraries in villages, while libraries in schools are managed by the local language offices.

In addition to building village libraries, Perpusnas is preparing mobile libraries for regions that have not received assistance.
The step is taken to create equality for regions that do not yet have mobile libraries, so that literacy can reach people in remote areas, Aziz said./.