ITS Archivist, Agus Santoso, S.Sos., M.Med.Kom., champion of the 2020 UGM Archive Paper Writing Competition, when giving archival training

ITS Campus, ITS News – The ongoing Covid-19 Pandemic did not dampen Agus Santoso, S.Sos., M.Med.Kom., as the Head of Archive Division at the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS) Surabaya, to continue carving achievements. This time, Agus succeeded in making ITS proud by being awarded first place in the 2020 UGM Archive Paper Writing Competition, which was announced last Wednesday (3/6).

Through his paper entitled “The Role of Regional Archival Institutions in the Preservation of Local Wisdom Resources”, this man, who is familiarly called Agus, wants to convey how regional archival institutions can implement specific strategies to preserve local wisdom sources that are part of the static archive treasury.

To ITS Online, Agus said that the regional archival institution under the auspices of the Library and Archives Service is an institution formed by each region to manage all forms of information and archives, especially static archives. Therefore, the potential is huge to be involved in the preservation of local wisdom resources.

“Currently the issue of preservation of local wisdom has been widely voiced by observers of culture and academics in the field of information management and history, especially in this era of globalization of information which is very vulnerable to erode the nation’s cultural values,” explained this man who was also crowned champion at the Top Archivist National Level that was conducted by the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education (Kemenristekdikti).

Agus expressed that there are various kinds of local wisdom that are very important to be archived, both are those that are tangible as well as those that are intangible. Intangible local wisdom such as historical manuscripts, ancient manuscripts, audio-visual collections of historical value, and numerous others that are alike, are basically ready to be archived. “For local wisdom that has not been tangible, such as the social system, language, etc. must be externalized in the form of documents first,” he carefully elaborated.

“In my writing, I present a number of specific strategies that can be taken and applied by regional archival institutions,” Agus mentioned. These strategies include the formulation of preservation-based policies, externalization of local wisdom sources, increased community participation, and the use of information technology.

Display of the specific strategies that can be carried out by regional archival institutions to preserve sources of local wisdom

In terms of community participation, the challenges of globalization and low public awareness of the archives still influence the efforts of regional archival institutions in preserving the sources of local wisdom. “The government, through the National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia (ANRI), has often echoed the National Archives Awareness Movement because the main key to successful archival management is public awareness,” he revealed.

Furthermore, Agus stressed the importance of archivists to show their existence. Show that archives are important for every organization, both through achievement and work, as well as the direct presence of an archive activist. “From there, the community will be moved to participate in appreciating the archives, the profession of the archivists, and the function of the archive itself,” Agus emphasized.

In managing archives in an organization, including universities, not only technical skills are required, but there must also be scientific perspectives and approaches. “Seeing my educational background that comes from Information Science and Library, the approach that I am conveying in this paper is more towards information management and records management,” expressed this man who had won first place as a Top Archivist at Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS) level.

Agus also said that archiving is always dynamic and does not only focus on saving. Writing from a scientific perspective is part of a strategy to increase knowledge in managing records. “The insights of the archives manager will develop along with the process of writing and reading, and certainly not excluding the technical skills in terms of archiving,” Agus stated.

This man with a myriad of achievements also emphasized that the archives manager at Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS) must respect his profession and show that the archive profession deserves to be taken into account. “My hope is that the Archives of ITS will continue to develop and bring positive benefits to ITS, as well as to continue to take part and innovate in the service and progress of national archives,” he concluded. (meg/lut/ory/ITS Public Relations)