IO, Surabaya – A group of Information and Library students (IIP) of Airlangga University (Unair) Surabaya are taking advantage of their semester holiday by conducting internships in various information-related institutions. Aside from being a compulsory program agenda, internship activities can be a place for students to develop their skills.
This was mentioned by Ismi Choirunnisa, an IIP student who has the opportunity to do field work practice in one of the neighboring state university libraries. The student from Banyuwangi is grateful to be able to gain a lot of new knowledge and experience in the library where she is apprenticed. Together with nine other IIP students, Ismi chose the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) as an internship location. She shared stories and experiences for almost a month of internship at the UKM Library.
“Lots of new knowledge and knowledge gained. One was about the work system in the library. So, UKM library had 18 units; each unit had its own chairman. In one scope of work, the division of work was already complex,” she explained on Monday (2/2/2020).
Another difference was the classification system used. Almost all libraries in Indonesia are guided by the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system; UKM Library uses the Library Congress Subject Headings (LCSH) guidelines which are popularly used in America.
“In the library, usually one service, such as binkol, takes care of many activities such as classification, indexing, and so on. Here (UKM Library-Ed), they become different units, such as indexing units, catalogue units, journal units, ICT units, multimedia units and customer service units,” explained Ismi.
Ismi said that the work culture in Malaysia is very disciplined and systematic. Almost all agencies implement objective quality and work analysis. From audits to other activities, everything is well-structured. It would not be surprised if the performance of employees is considered professional and in accordance with standards. Furthermore, continued Ismi, community perceptions regarding the profession of librarian in Malaysia are very different from those in Indonesia.
“Here the librarian occupies a high position. All librarians serve as chair of each unit, and at least graduated with a Master’s Degree. The librarian is famous for being smart, even more than a strategic designer,” she said.
Technical work in the library is carried out by librarian helpers. Ismi was grateful that the presence of interns from Unair in UKM Library was warmly welcomed. Both librarians and other officials are happy to share knowledge and help participants who have difficulties.
“This is the first time UKM accepted internship students from outside the country. So we learned from each other. It turns out that library management is not as simple as we thought. There is a customer education unit; the course was structured, scheduled; there are many competent librarians.”
After the internship, she hopes the knowledge and experience gained can contribute to her skills and be applied in the world of work and studies. In total there were ten IIP Unair students who are interned at the UKM Library. Beside Ismi, other names include Tia Dian Wilujeng, Ayyun Naufal, Chairani Fadillah Afnan, Dina Kartika Raya, Sherly Mega Vinolia, Sabrina Syifa, Putri Rahayu, Inayatul Kutsiyah and Wahyu Febrianto. They were interns at the UKM Library from January 6 to January 31, 2020. (*/est)
