APSIG newsletter no. 62: November 2006

Report from Bali: Indonesian Library Association meets

On 14-15 November 2006 the Indonesian Librarians Association (IPI) conducted their Xth Congress and Seminar at the Discovery Kartika Plaza Hotel, in Kuta, Bali. The theme of the seminar was on improving the quality of librarians in order to create an information literate society. The keynote speaker was representative of the office of the Ministry for Communications and Information Technology, who outlined the Indonesian Government policy on creating an information literate society. In addition to local speakers who addressed the theme of Information Literacy there were two invited overseas speakers, Mohd Sharif Mohd Saad, from the Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Shah Alam, Malaysia and Ralph Sanderson, Manager of the NLA's Regional Office in Jakarta. Ralph spoke on the role of developed countries in supporting information literacy in developing countries through examining existing library support programs and by highlighting existing and available web resources as providing useful examples and potential 'role' models for action. The Congress and seminar were attended by 520 librarians, library staff, managers and interested participants over the two day program which also saw the re-election of Dady Rachmananta, Director of the National Library of Indonesia, as Chair of the Central Committee of the IPI for another term.
(Ralph Sanderson)