Friday, May 17, 2024, the Literary Library Community of Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM together with Kognisi, a learning platform from Kompas Gramedia, held a literacy gathering entitled, “Arriving in Yogyakarta” in the green open courtyard of Soegondo Building, Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM. This literacy gathering coincides with the commemoration of National Book Day which occurs every May 17. Participants who took part in the activity did not only come from UGM students, but students from other universities such as Yogyakarta State University and the general public also attended the literacy meeting of Perpustra UGM with Kognisi.

The literacy activity began with the “Celoteh Buku” session, which is sharing stories about books from each participant of the community to be told in front of other participants to hone storytelling skills. Each participant not only explained the summary of the book’s story, but also raised personal opinions from the book he read. After a number of participants told their books, the “Silih Gilir” session began, where each participant packed their respective books into a brown envelope and gave the book to the right side participant continuously until the signal stopped from the moderator, then they would open the envelope containing the book that had been given by the participant next to them randomly and read the book which was then interspersed with a “Read Together” focus time session from the book he got.

On the same occasion, Perpustra also opened a book donation drive open to the community and students with the aim of donating to those in need to help improve regional literacy.

SGDs 4: Quality Education|SGDs 17: Partnerships For The Goals

On Saturday, 2nd of March, 2024, coinciding with the peak event of the 78th FIB UGM Dies Natalis, Gebyar Dies Natalis, the Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM inaugurated the Literature Library (Perpustra). The inauguration was attended by Prof. Dr. Setiadi, M.Sc., Dean of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM and Director of HR Kompas Gramedia, Sigit Suryanto.

The Literature Library, known by the abbreviation Perpustra, is a new collaborative innovation from the Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM with Kompas Gramedia in encouraging and supporting literacy culture, especially literary literacy. In addition, Perpustra is also a means of open discussion space for students, lecturers, and residents of FIB UGM.

In front of the R. Soegondo Building, Perpustra is a small yellow container with several popular books for young people. Around Perpustra, there are several bean bags on the fresh green grass lawn of the R. Soegondo Building. This relaxed atmosphere is created with the aim of Perpustra becoming a comfortable and attractive place, especially for students who want to stop by to read the books available. Inside this small yellow container, readers are provided with some popular contemporary literary book options, such as the book Tragedy of the Sword of Justice by Keigo Higashino, Jalan Pulang by Maria Hartiningsih, The Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson, and many more choices of literature books.

The presence of Perpustra brings a new spirit to the residents of FIB UGM. Support for expanding knowledge and literacy insights about literature is a real contribution step by FIB UGM to advance the Indonesian literary world.