Page 142 - PERPUSTAKAAN UNIVERSITAS AIRLANGGA

Kajian Dalam Bidang Ilmu Perpustakaan dan Informasi: Filosofi, Teori, dan Praktik

collections. They do not need to see librarians again. Even the users do not
need to come to the library again. The interaction of the two parties then
faded away, and soon after that the role of librarians for the users is not
important anymore because the users could serve their own needs, without
actually knowing whether the way to search the materials they need was
done correctly.
The fading interaction between librarians and users is reinforced
more by the increasing availability of reading material on Internet websites
where everyone can publish anything. Billions of data are available in
various forms and types that are mostly accessible without charge, as
long as people have access to the Internet. With the possession of portable
devices to access data such as lightweight laptops and smartphones,
people can access without having to move a lot. The smart device makes
users can get the materials they want without having to have any special
knowledge about searching like when they «still» have to get the material
in the library. The availability and ease of access to this reading material
raises the question: Do people still need to come to the library? Further
question is: Is the library still needed? Isn>t everything in the library, even
more, available on the Internet? Questions even arise from librarians: Are
we still being asked to foster reading passion, to educate the nation? This
worrying question is increasingly reinforced by the new thinking that now
what is needed is data and information, not a library printed materials, and
followed by the statement that the librarian profession is the profession
that died first. These questions and statements were taken seriously by
several institutions which immediately closed their libraries and replaced
them with data and information centers, then moved librarians> functional
positions to other functional positions.
When the role of the library is questioned and doubted, even considered
as insignificant by most users and the public, the role of educating the
nation, increasing reading habit and information literacy accidentally is
taken over by the TBM (an informal community based organization that
provide a place and books for the community to read) and the Reading
Community, two groups of organizations that mysteriously attend and
then considered important, even though their actions and activities are
exactly the same as the library. Their presence is highly accepted by the
public and government institutions, and has never been competed against
by the presence of the Internet and the availability of collections. Their
reading material is like unavailable on the Internet. Without a method of
selecting acquisition, processing and service, TBM grows everywhere and
is in demand by the community. Many TBM actors became nationally
famous and were asked to become an expert and gives speech everywhere.

122 Library as A Center of Social Interaction in the Digital Era