Literacy in Indonesia remain slow; furthermore, the more sophisticated gadgets become, the more indolent people become in reading books. Under such a condition, a group of students have established a Mobile Library to spread reading as a hobby.
It took courage and self-confidence for Dicki Lukmana and Dzikrilah to establish a library for the public. The two journalism students in theFaculty of Communications at Garut University, West Java, despite their long hair, are particularly interested in community literacy.
Avid bookworms, the two often carry backpacks filled with books. A 16-liter backpack can hold up to 10 books.
At first, Dicki and Dzikri loved to read books of any genre. Unfortunately, as their book collection grew, it became disorganized. That was when they started to lend their books to their fellow university students.
As time went by, their friends dubbed Dicki and Dzikri Pustaka Berjalan (Puber),or “mobile library”. The moniker stuck.
“We are called ‘puber’, as our backpacks are filled with dozens of books,” Dzikri said during an interview on Friday (11/8/2017)at his bookstall near Garut Town Square on Jl. Ahmad Yani.
Starting in November 2016, the Puber duo set up a stall at local events, including concerts, school festivals and seminars. There, anyone could read the books in their collection.
“We have a fairly good variety of books in our collection, including novels, classics, history, general knowledge and children’s storybooks. People mostly borrow novels and history books,” said Dicki.
Then, two months later, after seeing that Garut had only one public library and few reading rooms, they set up their stall in a public space.
“We started from the awareness that Garut lacked public reading rooms. As we had a lot of books in our collection, we just took them all to our campus and opened a stall. We now also have a public stall, including one at Garut Town Square,” Dicki said.
According to Dicki, many of the titles at the public library were hard for the general reading public to understand. “Actually, the local interest in reading is good. However, many are unwilling to go to the library and the library’s collection caters to only certain people,” he said.
Puber has had a regular stall at Garut Town Square since January 2017, and now has eight active members. The team receives more and more people wanting to borrow their books, and from many places. Apart from reading books on the spot, visitors can also borrow the books and return them within two weeks.
Local street vendors often stop by the Puber bookstall to read books. “The stall is very interesting. It has a variety of books that can add to my knowledge. Even though I might only sell fried snacks, I also need to read to increase my knowledge,” said Endang, a fried-snack seller at the town square.
Growing collection
As the number of their customers grew, Puber was happy to add more books to their collection. “To expand our collection, we received donations by establishing a network with other communities. Sometimes, our readers come here to donate books,” said Dicki.
Currently, Puberhas 200 books in its collection that were donated or came from their personal collection. Puber hopes that its presence can improve the literacy in Garut. Moreover, Puber does not charge a fee for reading at the stall: It is free.
A unique feature at Puber is that most of its male members have long hair. Because of this, Puber once held an open discussion on “Hair and Commodity”:to introduce Puber to the public and to change the bias some people might have toward long-haired men.
Public discussions are a way for Puber to expand its activities. Every other week, they hold an open discussion called ngumpul heula (preliminary get-together). The discussions are held at the beginning and middle of every month.
“Other than setting up a stall, we also get together and hold discussions on current issues. Our community also often goes hiking in the mountains,” said Dicki.
More than just a reading room, Puber also has an agenda to assist underdeveloped village libraries. Puber is currently helping a library in Cigintung, Singajaya district, Garut, which lacks skilled human resources.
The terms for joining the Puber community are to attend its get-togethers and to help out during events. Not having long hair is not a deal breaker, as it is not a membership criteria.
“Long hair is just an identity. Hopefully, we can change the public perception that [men with] long hair are identified with hooliganism,” Dicki said.
