We were taken to a community centre that the Sleman library staff had strong connections with. This centre had a variety of supports for the community, including a small library funded by the Coca Cola Foundation. It was interesting to tour the various rooms and spaces and see how the community made use of the space. There was a music room, that was really quite something, with traditional instruments, big gongs. They said that quite a few men came in to use that space. They had a bakery and a room with sewing machines, along with the library.
The next stop was to visit a bookmobile stop. There were a lot of children making use of the bookmobile and it was a good opportunity for the Sigli staff to see how another library handles bookmobile stops. They even had a computer on the bookmobile.
We got some great photo ops with Dawna doing ‘Round and Round the Garden’ with the local children. The kids got a big bang out of it and it demonstrated immediately the benefit of this for early literacy because the kids tried to mimic the rhyme. Later in the van Yurni showed us a similar Indonesian rhyme. So it seems universal that there is a benefit to link tickling with early literacy
We ended the day with a temple tour, this time it was a Hindu temple. Earthquakes had caused substantial damage to the area and we were not able to walk too closely among the ruins. Because of the damage we weren’t able to enter the temple or closely tour it like we could Borubudar. Truth be told, we were really beat by the end of the day…we may not have been able to truly appreciate this spot because we were all so tired.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
First 24 Hours in Jogjakarta
We didn’t know what to expect with the exposure tour in Jogja….we just knew that we were going to visit the library that won the ‘top’ library award in Indonesia.
The day began by us being a half hour late….traveling in a group of 8 means you don’t get anywhere in a hurry. We were met by about 12 staff from the Sleman library. (Slemen is the district that the library is in, just like Pidie is the district the Sigli library is in.) It was really quite a formal morning; there was a head table for the Vice Bupati and Mr.Mukhtar, along with the head of the Sleman library.
There were microphones and it took place in a community hall, that wasn’t part of the library. There were a lot of formal speeches, all in Indonesian, with no translations. They seemed very long and there didn’t seem to be any jokes. We had to follow along and nod whenever we heard our names mentioned.
Both libraries gave power point presentations. Sleman library had a video describing their services. It was pretty cool (Katherine just told me this was sounding pretty dry so I added the word cool) because the videos helped with the language barrier for us. It was great to see Mukhtar’s presentation….the bar graph showed that between October and December the number of visitors to the library shot up. December was ten times higher than October. The difference seemed to be that in December they increased their open hours, by two hours…so they are now open some days until 4:00. The best part was that the Sigli staff was thrilled about this growth, almost as much as we were. It was really exciting news.
It turned out to be so good to visit Jogja because the size of community that they are responsible for is almost the same as Pidie. It demonstrated that a lot of the ideas that we are proposing are almost the same as what Sleman is doing and for which they are winning awards. We then drove about 500 yards to actually visit the library because it was in the middle of a torrential down pour. We toured their ‘technical services’ room where they process and load the book information on to their catalogue. They are semi automated but for reasons we couldn’t get answers for….they are still hand charging items at the desk. You’ll laugh, but they drill all of their books with holes along the spine and then sew them together for extra protection. And, very much like Sigli, they have never withdrawn a book from their collection.
The library had several rooms. Two notable spaces were the Children’s room and the Computer Centre. You take your shoes off to go in the Children’s room. There were a few shelving units for children’s books, but they didn’t have enough money for shelves. There was a computer station in the children’s room and while you couldn’t borrow any movies or music, they did have them for kids to enjoy while they were at the library. They had several programmes for kids, including storytelling.
The computer centre was also pretty cool, well it was sorta cool. They had a photocopy machine, for which they were charging. They were also charging for the use of the internet. It looked like an internet café with cubicles. There was a point of interest, the room had a metal grill that was pulled over the door at night, along with a CCTV for branch video surveillance. The room had somewhere between four and six work stations. The room was about 8 x 10..maybe a little bigger but not that big at all.
The most significant thing about the Sleman group, was that all of the staff were involved. A number of staff gave presentations. There was a real pride in their work. The whole structure of the system was community based library service.
We all went out for lunch to this really snazzy place with separated eating huts and a little waterway ran through it with koi.
There were rice paddies in the background and still there was the proverbial motorcycle noise and trucks roaring by. Nevertheless it was a delightful place and it was very amenable. We were all seated on the floor around tables. The food was a bit scary at first…pretty much all whole fishes (with their heads on) but there were familiar dishes too, like calamari. There was no cutlery and Katherine had to remember to use her right hand to eat (she is left handed). She ended up sitting on her left hand. We took the plunge and just started tearing into the fish with our hands and were surprised at how good it was.
What was really special was that after the meal there was a group discussion with all the staff, and everyone was free to make comments and asked questions. The best part was that the Pidie staff and the Sleman staff really connected. Very little translation happened, which was fine…it was all about them talking to one another, learning and networking.
There was gift exchange…which actually happened pretty early on. Interestingly, the Pidie people brought a plaque with the insignia of the District. The Canadians gave maple cookies! And it should be noted that the Protocol office of the City of Toronto supplied pens, calculators and pins with the Toronto logo.
In the afternoon we were able to do some touristy stuff. We drove to Borubudur, which is the largest Buddhist temple in the world. The building of it began in the 8th century. Dawna bought a book about it if anyone wants to know more. It was tremendously beautiful. The day was overcast which made hiking up the many stairs and around the different levels enjoyable. There were thousands of images carved in relief in the brick rocks that made up the temple. It was clearly a spiritual place and the relief work was stunning.
We just left the cerebral peaceful walk among the Krishna carvings.
Katherine commented on how serene it all was…then as we stepped out of the gates we were overwhelmed with hawkers. The kind of hawkers you had to be rude to, just to be able to step forward. They were insistent on us making a purchase. We ended up buying masks and puppets and even two huge patchwork bags. We had to run to the car and the hawkers even pushed their hands and wares into the car through the window. It was too much! The funniest story from the hawkers was about the patchwork bags…I really liked the look of them, they reminded me of my family of quilters. The price began at 150,000 rupiahs…we said no. They kept following us and they brought the price down to 50 rp….Katherine told me not to weaken, that I didn’t need a big patchwork bag. Finally the bag man shouted through the car window…30 rp! Katherine said, “We’ll take two!” Now we have these big honking patchwork bags. Katherine has loaded hers with stuff already. And for the curious…they ended costing us $3 each.
The day began by us being a half hour late….traveling in a group of 8 means you don’t get anywhere in a hurry. We were met by about 12 staff from the Sleman library. (Slemen is the district that the library is in, just like Pidie is the district the Sigli library is in.) It was really quite a formal morning; there was a head table for the Vice Bupati and Mr.Mukhtar, along with the head of the Sleman library.
There were microphones and it took place in a community hall, that wasn’t part of the library. There were a lot of formal speeches, all in Indonesian, with no translations. They seemed very long and there didn’t seem to be any jokes. We had to follow along and nod whenever we heard our names mentioned.Both libraries gave power point presentations. Sleman library had a video describing their services. It was pretty cool (Katherine just told me this was sounding pretty dry so I added the word cool) because the videos helped with the language barrier for us. It was great to see Mukhtar’s presentation….the bar graph showed that between October and December the number of visitors to the library shot up. December was ten times higher than October. The difference seemed to be that in December they increased their open hours, by two hours…so they are now open some days until 4:00. The best part was that the Sigli staff was thrilled about this growth, almost as much as we were. It was really exciting news.
It turned out to be so good to visit Jogja because the size of community that they are responsible for is almost the same as Pidie. It demonstrated that a lot of the ideas that we are proposing are almost the same as what Sleman is doing and for which they are winning awards. We then drove about 500 yards to actually visit the library because it was in the middle of a torrential down pour. We toured their ‘technical services’ room where they process and load the book information on to their catalogue. They are semi automated but for reasons we couldn’t get answers for….they are still hand charging items at the desk. You’ll laugh, but they drill all of their books with holes along the spine and then sew them together for extra protection. And, very much like Sigli, they have never withdrawn a book from their collection.
The library had several rooms. Two notable spaces were the Children’s room and the Computer Centre. You take your shoes off to go in the Children’s room. There were a few shelving units for children’s books, but they didn’t have enough money for shelves. There was a computer station in the children’s room and while you couldn’t borrow any movies or music, they did have them for kids to enjoy while they were at the library. They had several programmes for kids, including storytelling.
The computer centre was also pretty cool, well it was sorta cool. They had a photocopy machine, for which they were charging. They were also charging for the use of the internet. It looked like an internet café with cubicles. There was a point of interest, the room had a metal grill that was pulled over the door at night, along with a CCTV for branch video surveillance. The room had somewhere between four and six work stations. The room was about 8 x 10..maybe a little bigger but not that big at all.
The most significant thing about the Sleman group, was that all of the staff were involved. A number of staff gave presentations. There was a real pride in their work. The whole structure of the system was community based library service.
We all went out for lunch to this really snazzy place with separated eating huts and a little waterway ran through it with koi.
There were rice paddies in the background and still there was the proverbial motorcycle noise and trucks roaring by. Nevertheless it was a delightful place and it was very amenable. We were all seated on the floor around tables. The food was a bit scary at first…pretty much all whole fishes (with their heads on) but there were familiar dishes too, like calamari. There was no cutlery and Katherine had to remember to use her right hand to eat (she is left handed). She ended up sitting on her left hand. We took the plunge and just started tearing into the fish with our hands and were surprised at how good it was.What was really special was that after the meal there was a group discussion with all the staff, and everyone was free to make comments and asked questions. The best part was that the Pidie staff and the Sleman staff really connected. Very little translation happened, which was fine…it was all about them talking to one another, learning and networking.
There was gift exchange…which actually happened pretty early on. Interestingly, the Pidie people brought a plaque with the insignia of the District. The Canadians gave maple cookies! And it should be noted that the Protocol office of the City of Toronto supplied pens, calculators and pins with the Toronto logo.
In the afternoon we were able to do some touristy stuff. We drove to Borubudur, which is the largest Buddhist temple in the world. The building of it began in the 8th century. Dawna bought a book about it if anyone wants to know more. It was tremendously beautiful. The day was overcast which made hiking up the many stairs and around the different levels enjoyable. There were thousands of images carved in relief in the brick rocks that made up the temple. It was clearly a spiritual place and the relief work was stunning.
We just left the cerebral peaceful walk among the Krishna carvings.
Katherine commented on how serene it all was…then as we stepped out of the gates we were overwhelmed with hawkers. The kind of hawkers you had to be rude to, just to be able to step forward. They were insistent on us making a purchase. We ended up buying masks and puppets and even two huge patchwork bags. We had to run to the car and the hawkers even pushed their hands and wares into the car through the window. It was too much! The funniest story from the hawkers was about the patchwork bags…I really liked the look of them, they reminded me of my family of quilters. The price began at 150,000 rupiahs…we said no. They kept following us and they brought the price down to 50 rp….Katherine told me not to weaken, that I didn’t need a big patchwork bag. Finally the bag man shouted through the car window…30 rp! Katherine said, “We’ll take two!” Now we have these big honking patchwork bags. Katherine has loaded hers with stuff already. And for the curious…they ended costing us $3 each.Getting the blog going again
We haven't had internet access beyond what we can scavenge at the airport terminals....so today we worked at trying to capture all of the excitement, ups and downs but MAINLY huge ups....that we have been expereiencing over the past week or so.
I will make up several posts, breaking the trip down into various parts.
I hope you enjoy it along with us.
Dawna.
I will make up several posts, breaking the trip down into various parts.
I hope you enjoy it along with us.
Dawna.
Friday, January 11, 2008
more about Singapore
I'm throwing in this picture of Borobrudur - outside of Jogyakarta, hope I have the spelling right. We didn't get much in the way of pics posted this time so am doing after the fact but can't always put them in the right spot.
We didn't really note the slogans and sayings this time in Singapore. Went to the National Library, a regional and community library and the Library Supply Center. This shopping obsession here really hits everyone. It seemed every arrangement revolved around when and where the shopping would be.
Hit the Night Zoo last night and had a very brief visit with my friends in Singapore.
The Indonesian group weathered the culture shock quite well really - and we were in a very fancy hotel and the libraries were so beyond anything they imagine to be possible.
We'll get to Banda today and hope to see our friend Sosi who was our translator last time.
Singapore **WOW**
It was intense..the library was fabulous, amazing...so much for our group to take in. We did have a bit of 'herding cats' sensibility working with a group that couldn't speak English.
We only have a few minutes as we are about to board the plane and will post again once we have more time.
We can't say enough about our guide from the National Library of Singapore, 'No Worries' Roy who troubleshooted and got us through various wrinkles and semi-stressful moments. All's well and we're just getting ready to hit Medan.
More later,
D&K.
We only have a few minutes as we are about to board the plane and will post again once we have more time.
We can't say enough about our guide from the National Library of Singapore, 'No Worries' Roy who troubleshooted and got us through various wrinkles and semi-stressful moments. All's well and we're just getting ready to hit Medan.
More later,
D&K.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Arrived in Jogjakarta
We had been hearing about Jogjakarta (or Jogja as most Indonesians call it) since our first trip here. Turns out they also have an award winning public library here too. So this mission we are visiting the Jogja library along with four staff from the Sigli library and the Vice Bupati (like a vice mayor).
Our morning began in Hong Kong. Even though we were at the airport 2 hours early, the line ups were such that checking in took over an hour and a half....we had to get expressed through security and then do a MAD dash to get on the plane. We had about 5 minutes to spare. Good to start the day with a cardio workout. We flew to Jakarta where we met up with the Indonesian team. It was great to see them again but hard to catch up because everyone had things to say and there was only one translator. We all kept wishing we were more fluent in the others language.
We checked in to the Novotel and had dinner out at a street restaurant. The food was so-so...beef satay, prawns, rice and local beer. At the restaurant we were serenaded by different street singers, singing and wanting some money. There were some street youth with piercings and tattoos and even a tranny singer. Somehow, singing 'Leaving on a jet plane' seemed to be a popular choice. We hadn't seen this diversity in Indonesia before. Jogja will prove to be an interesting place to stay for the next few days.
Our morning began in Hong Kong. Even though we were at the airport 2 hours early, the line ups were such that checking in took over an hour and a half....we had to get expressed through security and then do a MAD dash to get on the plane. We had about 5 minutes to spare. Good to start the day with a cardio workout. We flew to Jakarta where we met up with the Indonesian team. It was great to see them again but hard to catch up because everyone had things to say and there was only one translator. We all kept wishing we were more fluent in the others language.
We checked in to the Novotel and had dinner out at a street restaurant. The food was so-so...beef satay, prawns, rice and local beer. At the restaurant we were serenaded by different street singers, singing and wanting some money. There were some street youth with piercings and tattoos and even a tranny singer. Somehow, singing 'Leaving on a jet plane' seemed to be a popular choice. We hadn't seen this diversity in Indonesia before. Jogja will prove to be an interesting place to stay for the next few days.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Enroute and in Hong Kong
The long trip gets longer, but hey, upgrades can make all the difference. We discovered that our 'Elite' travel status with Air Canada has real benefits. Dawna's suitcase weighed in at 65 kg which would have meant a $75 surcharge, but as 'Elite' there is no cost and we each could have 4 bags! It gets even better, when we got on the flight from Toronto to Vancouver we were bumped up to Executive class and each had our own sleeping pod. Man was that great! Sadly, we didn't get that treatment for the second flight, which was 14 hours from Vancouver to Hong Kong. The flight was ok, long but manageable. We are at a very nice hotel and will sleep a bit and head out for the final two flights tomorrow.
We have our traditional first photo taken at Vancouver....we don't know if we get any better at taking our own photo but we have a lot of fun trying.
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