Factors that Contributed to the Community Library Movement in Indonesia

Abstract

Independent community libraries have sprouted in Indonesian cities and villages since around 2001, with the Ministry of Education estimating that there are now at least 5,400 of them in operation. These libraries, called reading gardens (Taman Bacaan), offer books, magazines and, often, activities to promote reading and literacy. This paper discusses how such a large number of independent community libraries came into being, without much financial or organizational support from outside agencies. The methodology includes a survey of the historical literature on the development of libraries in Indonesia, archival searches of the most important newspapers to see articles they have written about community libraries since 2001, contacting a large number of academics and people involved with community libraries directly through e-mail, and also consulting blogs, mailing lists, and websites related to the Indonesian community libraries. The paper shows how the precursor for the modern reading gardens can be found in the early renting libraries set up by Chinese immigrants and the Balai Pustaka libraries set up by the Dutch colonial government, and traces the influence of these during the twentieth century, as the independent Indonesian government experiments with setting up village libraries. It then shows how a number of factors came together around 2001, shortly after the introduction of democracy in Indonesia, with the creative culture in Bandung, inspiring examples of “library heroes,” and the influence of networks, Islam and patriotism, to create a truly independent, grass-roots community library movement.