Australia-RI Cooperate to Preserve Indonesian Heritage

The Indonesian and Australian National Libraries will this week continue their close cooperation over recent years when four senior Indonesian librarians attend a training program on preservation management at Canberra’s National Library of Australia.

Australian Chargé d’Affaires, Louise Hand, said the two national libraries had many common interests and a long history of cooperation.

“The National Library of Australia has one of the world’s best research collections of Indonesian material, which includes books, serials, newspapers and maps that can be found nowhere else,” Ms Hand said. “It is an asset of which Australia can be very proud and which has added significantly to our understanding of Indonesia.”

She said she hoped the training would help local librarians to manage and preserve their important national collections.

“The cooperation and exchanges among librarians from both countries highlights the great depth and levels of interaction among Australians and Indonesians at all levels. It is through these extensive people to people links that the real strength in bilateral Australian-Indonesian relations lies.”

A renewal of the 2002 Memorandum of Understanding between the two libraries will be signed on 6 May 2008. The renewed MoU will ensure that the past six years of practical cooperation will continue.

“The renewed MoU between Australia and Indonesia will ensure that flows of information and ideas will continue and enrich the cultural resources of both nations,” Ms Hand said. “We are extremely proud, for example, of the highly unique collection of Indonesian reading materials at the National Library of Australia and are keen to see this resource continue to expand.”

Mr Dady Rachmananta, the Director of Indonesia’s National Library, will sign the MoU at an event to be witnessed by Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, Bill Farmer, and Ms Amelia McKenzie from the National Library of Australia.

“The cooperation is a priceless investment for both countries and it is a partnership that we encourage and support for the benefit of our future generations,” said Mr Rachmananta.

Further information:
Jenny Dee (Counsellor, Public Affairs), ph (021) 2550 5290, mob 0811 187 3175