APSIG Newsletter

The newsletter of the ALIA Asia Pacific Special Interest Group

Number 58, July 2005

NLA and Canberra booksellers join forces in Books for Aceh Project

The national library's Aceh book donation programme began in May, with the first consignment of Indonesian books donated to the public library in Banda Aceh.

During the month of June, six independent Canberra booksellers raised funds to donate to the library for the Aceh books project. The booksellers ran a campaign through their bookshops which stimulated great interest from members of the public, many of whom made donations to the booksellers and directly to the national library. Altogether over $8000 was raised, and was handed over to the Library's Director-General, Jan Fullerton, on 8 July. The funds will be sent to the library's Jakarta office to purchase more books over the next three to six months.

The NLA's regional officer, Mr Ralph Sanderson, visited Banda Aceh in May and sent back the following report:

'The delivery of the first shipment of over 900 books from the NLA regional office in Jakarta coincided with my visit to Banda Aceh where I attended the official reopening of the provincial library on 7 May 2005. On the day of the opening a display of books was held.These included books donated by the NLA and by several Indonesian publishers...

'I also joined the visit of one of the new mobile library vans (donated by the National Library of Indonesia) to Semik Barracks, one of many locations established to accommodate local residents displaced by the earthquake and tsunami. During the visit I spoke to some of the children and took the impromptu opportunity to read a couple of stories to a group of boys who had gathered around. Although they did seem more interested in me and wanted to know whether I was a Muslim, to see the photo I had in my wallet of my family and to look at the St Christopher medallion I was wearing! The visit by the library van was very popular and those who attended were mostly children and mums. Many were keen to know whether they could borrow books on that day'.

Ralph notes that he was warmly welcomed by staff of the provincial library, included Mr Kamaruddin, the new head, and Mr Mirwansyah, one of the librarians, who acted as Ralph's guide. The NLA's assistance to the provincial library will continue over the next six to twelve months. It is planned to commence donations of English language books for the library's reference collection once the library has been refurbished and services have been re-established.

Amelia McKenzie

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