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REMARKS ON THE INAUGURATION OF THE
AMERICAN CORNER, GADJAH MADA UNIVERSITY
July 28, 2004 Your excellency the Ambassador of the United States, The distinguished cultural attaché and all US embassy staff who are here The distinguished guests Ladies and gentlemen, A library is such an important resource for learning, especially in a higher education institution. It is often said that the “library is the heart of the university.” I consider it more accurately portrayed as “the brain.” It is the memory. Since one can never have too much knowledge, learning is a continuing process throughout life and libraries provide the tools to enlighten the mind. The ideal library caters to all ages and a variety of patrons, from those who are just making a quick stop to check out materials to those spending hours utilizing all that it a library has to offer. As soon as someone steps into a library, a world of information is available at their finger tips. Whether it’s a school or community library, it is the most valuable resources for knowledge and education. Currently Gadjah Mada University is working hard to empower all existing resources, including the libraries. By changing our method from teaching to student’s learning, the libraries’ role will be more and more important. That is why the university management views that we should develop our libraries in order to enable our students learn by themselves. The idea to develop our libraries is not without any barriers. One of them is budget constraint. I know that in the US, most universities spend about 6% to 7% of their budget for their libraries. Gadjah Mada University is now increasing its budget and we expect that in 2007, it will reach up to 5%. However, we really grateful to get donation from other institutions—both domestic and overseas. As we all see, the US embassy has been so generous to provide resources related to the US information that we call “American Corner.” This corner, which is one of ten American Corners in Indonesia will be very useful for Gadjah Mada University students, lecturers, researchers as well as for public. I would like to emphasize as well that in Gadjah Mada University, there are 18 Faculties consisting of move than 70 departments including English Department, American Studies Department, International Relations Department, and Comparative Religious Studies Department. I am sure that those departments will make benefit of the American Corner’s existence. However, again, I would encourage public to make use of the resources available here. Finally, I would like to thank the US ambassador, Mr. Ralph Boyce for his generosity to provide valuable resources to Gadjah Mada University. I would like to thank Pak Riley, the cultural attaché, who has worked hard to make this American Corner established here. I also would like to extend my gratitude to all IRC staff who have helped us for the foundation of the American Corner. Last but not least, I would like to emphasize again that this comfortable and functional environment of the American Corner allows everyone the ability to access all kinds of information from either books or via the online facility available her in the American Corner.
Thank you. Prof Dr Agus Dwiyanto |
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