• Index of this issue

No. 63, November 2008

Conducted at Inna Garuda Hotel in Jogjakarta, Indonesia, the Indonesian Library Association (IPI) in cooperation with the National Library of Indonesia organized a one-day seminar with the theme "Through Mobile Library Services and Folklore, We brace Up the Spirit of Togetherness among CONSAL member countries". This event presented the projects submitted to CONSAL (Congress of Southeast Asian Librarians), i.e. bibliography of folklore and mobile library services in Southeast Asia which have been proposed by Indonesia and endorsed by the Executive Board of CONSAL. Five speakers out of the invited 10 representatives reported in a panel on the activities of mobile libraries in their countries.

Speakers from the five countries of CONSAL with Director of the National Library of Indonesia
(in batik shirt) and Secretary General of the Indonesian Library Association (far right)

Held on Tuesday, 11 November 2008, and coincided with the 14th meeting of the Indonesian Library Association on the following day, the occasion was officially opened on Monday evening, 10 November, at the Trimurti theater within the complex of Prambanan temple, 25 northeast of Jogjakarta . It saw the attendance of more than 400 participants from all over the country, including a couple of Malaysian librarians, who were entertained by Ramayana ballet show set against the background of Prambanan temple in the distance.

Posing with Javanese dancers in a veranda-turned-stage owned by
one of the brothers of HM Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X, the reigning king of Jogjakarta

The first discussion in the seminar was about folklore which were presented by four speakers from Cambodia, Laos, Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia. From the papers presented, it could be summarized that there are similarities of oral tradition in Southeast Asia and since civilization in the region originated from the same source it is quite difficult to trace from which country or region the story began. This topic will later be the basis of compiling a regional bibliography of Southeast Asian folklore, eventually to be submitted during the General Conference of CONSAL in Hanoi, April 2009. As it is already recognized, CONSAL is the main alliance between national libraries in the ten countries of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations).

Following the folklore presentation, discussion on mobile library services in the Southeast Asian region centered on what is going on in each country. This mobile facility is actually an extension of library service, directed mainly to communities residing in remote and far-off areas which are served by land vehicles, i.e. vans and trucks, including motorcycle, bicycle and horses. For inaccessible regions such as islands or river areas where land transportation is not possible, floating libraries are the solution. This type of vehicle may be seen on the waters of Riau and Kalimantan provinces where the construction of roads are prohibitive due to conditions of the terrain.

The two day event was then concluded with a one-day tour of the Jogjakarta region. It comprised the famous Borobudur temple, the largest Buddhist place of worship in the country which have been renovated by a Unesco project back in the 1970s. Other parts of the tour went to a natural museum in Kaliurang, a resort 30 km north of Jogjakarta, and to the area where the volcanic emission of Mt. Merapi which erupted in 2006 killed three guards who took cover at the lookout bunker.