Public Libraries Have Potential as Portal of Knowledge to Innovation Creation

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Illustration by Feri Fenoria

UNAIR NEWS – Creativity and innovation are the main keys to the success of a nation. Innovation can be created when someone has access to knowledge.

Through knowledge, someone is very likely to get inspiration serving as capital for new discoveries. However, in developing countries like Indonesia, there are not many reliable providers of information. On the contrary, there are gaps in access to information resources and technological mastery which become obstacles in the process of creating innovation.

A lecturer in Library Studies of Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR), Nove Eka Variant Anna S. Sos., MIMS. said that public libraries can be a portal of knowledge for the community. However, public libraries need to be transformed from information providers through static websites as knowledge portals.

The result of the study showed that 55 percent or 19 public libraries in Indonesia do not have a website, when the website is the basic capital of the library to be a portal of knowledge.

“Nowadays, public libraries must be turned into information centers. Many public libraries, still focus on physical location. Libraries must have a broader vision and have a real impact on society, ” she said.

In its role as a knowledge portal, libraries must be able to be a place where knowledge and innovation are created. Furthermore, the library must also facilitate users to create virtual spaces such as discussion forums.

To transform into a knowledge portal, several changes need to be made. Starting from information sources that were previously based on print collections into digital collections, changing ownership rights to access rights, and turning library websites into one stop shopping portals, where users can get information but can also share knowledge with other users.

“Furthermore, the library can also easily find out the needs of users through the feedback they provide,” said the lecturer.

This change, she continued, also requires libraries not only provide collections for readers, but also manage how collections can be used to generate new knowledge for community empowerment.

The public library acts as an agent of development in increasing the level of knowledge literacy for the community. Therefore, all aspects must support and encourage public libraries to change and go digital.

With that support, she continued, libraries throughout Indonesia can move and transform together so they can provide a platform for the creation of innovation and knowledge invention for the entire community.

“Considering public libraries are available in all provinces; city; districts; to villages, if digital library services can be utilized, it will be able to increase community innovation, ” she concluded. (*)

Author: Erika Eight Novanty

Editor: Nuri Hermawan

Reference: Nove Eka Variant Anna (2018), Transformation of public library websites in Indonesia,LIBRARY HI TECH NEWS Number 8 2018, pp. 10-14, V C Emerald Publishing Limited, 0741-9058, DOI 10.1108/LHTN-02-2018-0011

Link                  : https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328390748_Transformation_of_public_library_websites_in_Indonesia

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