Anita Rachman

UI Begins Work on Gigantic Library

State-owned University of Indonesia will begin constructing today a 2.5-hectare library that would be the biggest in the country once completed by the end of the year .

Devie Rahmawati, the university’s deputy director of corporate communication, said on Sunday that the library was one of UI’s most ambitious projects .

She said people would work 24 hours, 7 days a week to complete the construction on time.

State Enterprises Minister Sofyan Djalil, who is also the chairman of the UI Alumni Union, is scheduled to attend the ceremony marking the laying of the first bricks today .

“We believe this library will be the largest in the region, probably in the world. It will have eight floors, surrounded by gardens,” Devie said.

The university estimates the total cost of the project to reach Rp 100 billion ($9.7 million), which would be shouldered by the government and other industries that have been working with UI.

As many as 20,000 people, almost half of the university’s 45,000 student population, are expected to visit the library on a daily basis once it opens next year.

“It will be able to host 10,000 visitors at any given time. It’s going to be huge,” Devie said.

She said the purpose of the library would be to act as the center of knowledge for the university and to attract thousands of researchers to UI, boosting its position in the international academic world.

The Times Higher Education and Quacquarelli Symonds university rankings place the institution at 278th position among international universities and 50th in Asia.

“The library will be totally new and completely separate from the old one,” Devie said.

“Its construction will be followed by several changes. The library will be the central building that will connect all of the schools in the university.”

In line with the university’s environment-friendly policy, visitors will be asked not to use any plastic materials in the library.

The building’s management will also ban smoking and encourage visitors to reduce their use of electricity and water.

Devie said the new library would provide both students and lecturers with better equipment to conduct research .

Students and lecturers will also have online access to e-books and e-journals.

“We will have silent rooms, where students and lecturers can concentrate on their work,” Devie said, adding that the university decided to build the new library after noticing a change in one of its libraries after it was renovated. She said the library for the School of Social and Political Science used to receive 30 visitors daily, but now had 700 visitors every day .

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