ASEAN Librarians toward the Globalization and the Free Market Era

Arif Surachman

BACKGROUND Globalization and free market era are something that cannot be avoided. The information technology development has become unlimited and the issues of various agreements related to the free market by the world trade organization (WTO) brought a lot of impact for a region and it residents. Who would not be able to compete and prepare strategies in the face of globalization and free markets, would be undermined and marginalized. So also with librarians in Southeast Asia who are members of Congress of Southeast Asian Librarians (CONSAL). The liberalization of 12 services sectors such as in education, information and communication technology, lifelong education, and others who became the WTO agenda through what is called the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) (Effendi, 2007) will also inevitably affect the field of library and information. This is because the close proximity of the library and information services sector with education, information and communication technology and lifelong education. When countries outside Southeast Asia to compete in and participate in educational services, information technology and communication, and lifelong education in Southeast Asia, the offender must also be able to improve the education of all capabilities and facilities in order to compete. Librarians as part of the education should be able to adjust automatically, either through increased professionalism and ability to network to strengthen ties with fellow librarians at national and regional level. Networking is important so that the librarians in Southeast Asia able to mutually strengthen themselves in the face of 'invasion' of education from outside Southeast Asia. Also within the scope of ASEAN have agreed upon the existence of AFTA (Asean Free Trade Agreement) which is part of the agenda the establishment of ASEAN Economic Community (MEA) or the ASEAN Community Economics. AFTA will be absolutely true in 2015 (Sastraatmadja, 2006). It also will automatically have an impact on how librarians in ASEAN will be competing and competing well in the South-East Asia alone. The problem is, whether the current Southeast Asian librarians are ready to face that challenge? What steps need to be done by a librarian in the face of globalization and free market it? The author at least see there are some things that

become issues that need to be considered by librarians in Southeast Asia, namely the concept of identity librarians, competitiveness, professionalism and selflibrarian partnerships. This paper tries to give their views and opinions as to what steps should be done related to the above problems. DEFINITIONS AND EXPLANATION Globalization or Global Era According Hammelink (1999) in Sudarsono (2011) globalization is a social process that intensifies the awareness of the world; interdependence (interdependence) will stimulate the economic interdependence of the social world that will strengthen the close friendship between nations; increasing cultural interaction would be to make mutual understanding and respect among nations different culture, etc.. But in Big Indonesian Dictionary, globalization is defined simply as an input for the global process. In the second definition above actually already seen that globalization leads to a social process that not only local but is now reaching the world. This means that barriers have limitations in one country 'no', thus bringing the impact that all these things reach something that is very wide and even 'unlimited'. It makes the community must always be ready inundated by a variety of information and knowledge is also different, diverse, and come from cultures and backgrounds of different communities. Another meaning is also the world community will have a dependence on each other is high and also face competition more broadly. Free Market Free Market is a result of the globalization of world economy. One thing that is faced by librarians in the era of globalization is global or a free market. Big Indonesian Dictionary (2008) simply defines the free market as the implementation of market economy through free competition. Free competition here can be interpreted that all people will be exposed to competition and competition is open. Who won the competition or the competition, they will be able to survive in the global market. In the world we know of the General Agreement on Trade (GAT) issued by the World Trade Organization as part of the free market agenda worldwide. While at the local level there is Southeast Asia Asean Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) which is part of the policy of ASEAN Economic Community (MEA). Free market policies in both the international and regional level will inevitably lead to intense competition of human resources in the free market economy. The world

community has no choice but to be able to respond properly and strategic policies. If not then prepared to undermined and marginalized. DISCUSSION Self-Concept for Librarian One thing that is quite important and fundamental before speaking another aspect related to how it should be a person or a profession addressing the state of the environment is a matter of self-concept or identity. Big Indonesian Dictionary (2008) defines identity as features, images, or special circumstances a person or an object, identity, essence, soul, spirit, and the power of movement from within. Librarians should be able to understand her identity as a librarian. Librarians must be able to find what characterizes, what is the soul or essence of a librarian, and how librarians have the power of movement from within. In essence, the librarian should be able to 'animate' all the behaviors and actions as a librarian. Kreitner (2008) argued about the self-concept or self-concept that is a perception of ourselves as physical beings, social beings and creatures spiritual / moral. This self-concept that causes us to recognize ourselves as human beings or different individuals. Kreitner (2008) also added that self-concept is to bring people to the role of cognition which represents "knowledge, opinions, or beliefs about the environment, about oneself or about one's behavior". This means that when a librarian the librarian has a self-concept will be able to position ourselves as distinct individuals, who have the knowledge, opinions, beliefs about the environment and also recognize themselves as a librarian. Associated with self-concept is then Kreitner (2008) 3 things important to acknowledge that self-esteem, self-efficacy and self-monitoring. Self-esteem is understood as a self-evaluation as a whole in a person. Self-esteem is going to put someone on a high confidence of himself as feeling worthless, feeling capable and feeling accepted, or vice versa, so there are doubts about him feel inferior. This will affect how people behave and introduced himself to others. Librarians should also be able to 'pride' with itself. We sometimes still see many cases where librarians feel inferior or embarrassed to introduce herself as a librarian. No pride as a librarian. This kind of mindset must be removed within the librarian. Branden in Kreitner (2008) raised the six pillars associated with self-esteem that can be used as a reference, namely: Live consciously: Active and engaged seriously with what we do and with whom we interact.

 Be self-accepting: Do not be too excessive in assessing and critiquing our thoughts and actions. Take personal responsibility: Responsible completely with what has become our decisions and actions. Be self-assertive: Decisive, maintaining what has become our beliefs when interacting with others, it is not easy to 'lower' myself just to be accepted or liked. Live purposefully: Has a short and long term goals are clear and realistic plan to make it happen, and create control over our lives. Have personal integrity: Honest to the words and values we hold.

Pride or self-esteem is related to the six pillars Branden above should also owned by the Librarian. Librarians must have sincerity, responsibility, judging him fairly, firmly held principles or, have clear goals and plans to make it happen, and have integrity in accordance with the values held. While the Self-Efficacy is the belief a person's ability to perform a task or job given to him. Librarians should have the confidence to every task assigned to him. This means that librarians should always be ready to do the things that have become liabilities or responsibilities. Confidence in the ability of self-importance of librarians in order to achieve success in every job given to him. Kreitner (2008) expressed that belief in self-efficacy is influenced by several things namely, previous experience, behavioral models, persuasive support from others, and assessment of a person's physical and emotional. The four things mentioned above will provide a strong influence on how people are unsure of what to do and will affect the success in doing the job or task performed. Fourth it is also important to note by the librarian to a growing sense of confidence against a given task or job. As for self-monitoring is a form of self-observation and how menyesuikannya with the existing situation. Librarians should have the ability to assess and observe yourself, so that they can adjust to any situation that will be encountered. The ability of librarians in understanding the behavior of yourself is important to confront all sorts of changes associated with globalization and free markets. The concept of self or identity should be able to be understood by librarians in Southeast Asia so that they understand how they understand themselves and how to put yourself in a global environment is constantly changing and full of competition. Improving Competitiveness and Professionalism

GATS-WTO and AFTA to be faced by librarians in Southeast Asia will be a challenge for librarians and library. This is because according to Sastraatmadja (2006) free movement of trade between countries would be followed by the movement of labor, so inevitably librarians in Southeast Asia should be ready in global competition. To that end, is an 'obligation' for Southeast Asian librarians in improving the competitiveness and demonstrate professionalism. This competitiveness can be shown by the competence of librarians in the areas of responsibility. Whatever his position, wherever the place, and at any time, librarians must always be ready with the skills, expertise, knowledge and the adequacy of the information that supports their work. Librarians and library institutions should be able to map the competencies themselves and librarian. The results of this mapping is important for librarians and institutions that shaded the librarian know in detail how the competitiveness of librarians and library. Furthermore, librarians and library will be able to make various improvements related to enhancing the competence based mapping done. Saleh (2004) says that the standard of competence will enhance the competitiveness of Indonesian human resources in the free market. This suggests that the librarians who have competitiveness are librarians who have the ability in accordance with existing standards of competency. Competence itself can be understood as the ability to carry out a task / job which builds on the knowledge, skills and attitudes according to the required performance (Public Electricity Indonesia, 2004 in Saleh, 2004). Librarians are able to understand the job / task, motivated, have the knowledge and skills, have the confidence to carry out the job / task and able to act on the basis of the work presented is a hallmark of librarians who have competence and strong competitiveness. Still associated with the competence and competitiveness, at least in Southeast Asia librarian needs to have some of the following: The ability in the field of information and communication technology Ability to communicate and speak Capability in information literacy The ability and expertise in technical services and users Innovative and Creative Thinking Ability to cooperate Ability to relate to other soft-skills

When talking about the competence and competitiveness of a profession, then inevitably have to talk about professionalism. Meriem-Webster defines professionalism as an implementation, goals, or quality characteristics or marks which indicate the profession or professional jobs. Professionalism Southeast Asian librarians should at least be concerned: Integrity: involves a sense of responsibility, discipline, honesty, freedom from conflict of interest, and excited. Ethics: about how librarians can apply professional ethics set by their respective professional organizations. Independence: librarians should have the autonomy to develop and solve problems, and not easily influenced by others who want to take a particular advantage. Special Skills: regarding skills, abilities and knowledge not shared by other professions. In addition librarians need to have a particular expertise in specific areas of interest and duty in accordance with his / her job. Behavior: the behavior and attitudes concerning how well librarians against colleagues, agencies, professional organizations and societies. Professionalism will form a personal librarian who always ready to face any change of circumstances. Because only librarians are able to follow any kind of change was the one who will be able to survive and have a high competitiveness. Southeast Asian librarians in the future should be able to meet the above criteria to be able to face the challenges of the global era and the free market. Increased competitiveness through competence and professionalism is a necessary condition required by the future of Southeast Asian Librarians. Improving Regional Cooperation Relations No less important than the issue of competitiveness and professionalism is a matter of ability to cooperate and build networks. Facing globalization through AFTA, WTO and GATS, librarians need to be mutually self-reinforcing. The amount of information, knowledge and problems to be faced in the global era, will not be able to be handled 'only' by one or two libraries or librarians. No librarian or library that is able by itself to accommodate and manage information and knowledge. To that necessary cooperation or networks both within the local, regional, national, regional and international levels. Librarians in Southeast Asia which has CONSAL officially 'together' librarians from Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and Brunei Darussalam. Just a pity it seems that at least 3

years meeting once it has not been too effective to have sex and more intensive cooperation. But CONSAL actually 'make way' for librarians and libraries to enhance the relationship with the librarian and perpustakaaan among fellow members of ASEAN. Librarians in Southeast Asia should be able to leverage this to build a network that will strengthen librarians and libraries in the face of the global era and the free market. Not only to share information, but also to know the characteristics of each library and the librarian competency standards in Southeast Asia, so in the future when AFTA is realized then the librarian is ready to be placed anywhere. Building a network does not have a way to meet the physical, but can also be done by developing discussion groups and mailing lists online, followed by librarians throughout Southeast Asia. CONSAL himself through his website actually already provide this facility, just like not a lot of librarians who use it. This is a common task for all components in the management of CONSAL to maximize the use of online discussion forums. Relations or cooperation at regional level can also be done in other ways such as doing work together in order to eg create information portals such cultural heritage of Southeast Asia World Digital Library. Librarians and libraries in each country act as an active contributor and CONSAL a parent who coordinates the agency. The program is in addition to helping in the preservation of national culture (which is also the duty of librarians), also to assist in identifying a country rich culture and art of each, so it does not happen a conflict of 'ownership' culture or art that has been happening. Librarians have a responsibility to provide objective information to the user community, and this can be done as a form of relationship or establish a relationship between librarians in southeast asia. Increased regional cooperation is important to librarians in Southeast Asia are always ready to face the challenges of free market and globalization. CONSAL as an organization that 'responsible' to the relationship of regional cooperation should be more progressive again in a variety of activities and forums that can strengthen the relationship between librarians and libraries in Southeast Asia.

CONCLUSION Librarians are individuals who can not 'stand alone'. Librarians are always needed a partner in carrying out its activities. Librarian is a profession not just a job. Librarians need to always improve the competitiveness and professionalism in order to keep abreast of the ever-changing times. Librarians in Southeast Asia should be able to improve the competitiveness and professionalism and be able to play a role in enhancing cooperation with other librarians in both the local and

national level especially regionally. So that librarians are able to face ASEAN globalization and free markets are the librarians who understand the concept of identity as a librarian, has the competence, professionalism and be able to continue to understand the relationship of cooperation and networking with librarians or other workers in the field of information.

REFERENCES Departemen Pendidikan Nasional. 2008. Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia Pusat Bahasa. 4th ed.. Jakarta: PT. Gramedia Pustaka Utama. Effendi, Sofian. 2007. Indonesia menghadapi Liberalisasi Pendidikan Tinggi. Tulisan pada Harian Sindo, March 10, 2007. Accessed on November 11, 2011 at http://sofian.staff.ugm.ac.id/artikel/Liberalisasi-PendidikanTinggi.pdf Kreitner, Robert dan Angelo Kinicki. 2008. Organizational Behavior, 8th ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin. Saleh, Abdul Rahman. 2004. Manfaat Standar Kompetensi dan Etika Profesi dalam Peningkatan Profesionalisme Pustakawan. Paper presented in Rakor Tim Penilai Pustakawan, Jakarta, October 5, 2004. Accessed on November 11, 2011 at http://repository.ipb.ac.id/bitstream/handle/123456789/27214/Abdul Rahman Saleh (7)_Standard.Kompetensi.PDF?sequence=1 Sastraatmadja, Titin. 2006. Konsep Peningkatan Daya Saing Pada Pelayanan Jasa Informasi, di Perpustakaan. Paper presented on Pustakawan Utama Speech, National Library of Republic of Indonesia. Accessed on November 11, 2011 at http://pustakawan.pnri.go.id/uploads/karya/Konsep_Peningkatan_Daya_Sa ing_Pada_Pelayanan_Jasa_Informasi_di_Perpustakaan.doc Sudarsono, Blasius. 2011. Pustakawan dan Perpustakaan dalam menghadapi tantangan di Era Global. Paper presented on National Seminarr, Bogor, September 14, 2011. Accessed on November 11, 2011 at http://perpustakaan.ipb.ac.id/index.php/in/component/content/article/1latest-news/93-pustakawan-dan-perpustakaan-dalam-menghadapitantangan-di-era-global-oleh--blasius-sudarsono World Trade Organization. _____. General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). Accessed on November 11, 2011 at http://www.worldtradelaw.net/uragreements/gats.pdf Website: www.consal.org, www.aseansec.org, www.worldtradelaw.net