The performance of UGM Archives Office has so far been recognized by many institutions nationally and internationally. UGM Archives Office has also been known for its achievement, reliability and good human resources. This is what motivates many people and institutions to continue to learn and gain knowledge from the UGM Archives office.
Dozens of archivists from Bali who joined the Association of Archivist and Archive Managers of State University (IKAPA-PTN) visited UGM, Wednesday (27/10). The visit was led by Ida Bagus Arimbawa (Head of Udayana Archive Center) and I Nyoman Sugawa (Chairman of IKAPA Bali). They were received by the Executive Secretary UGM Drs Djoko Moerdiyanto, MA, Head of UGM Archives, Drs. Machmoed Effendhie, M. Hum, Archives Secretary, Drs. Zudimat, Head of Service, Drs. Ari Basuki, MPd and Dra Suwarni, Head of Archive’s Database.
According to IB. Arimbawa, the visit to UGM was the first visit ever since Udayana Archives office was established in 2008. At that time, Arimbawa said, the 26 staff had absolutely no experience on archiving.
"This is our first visit to UGM to learn a lot about the archives," said Arimbawa, giving a speech at the Council of Professors' meeting room UGM.
He said that all this time they had received much assistance from the UGM archives office. They often monitor the activities of the UGM archive offices through the existing websites. Arimbawa explained that the visiting archivists also came from three other universities such as Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha Singaraja, Bali State Polytechnic, and ISI Denpasar.
"Originally, there were only 3 state universities joining, but another university also came to participate in this visit today," said Arimbawa.
Meanwhile, Drs Djoko Moerdiyanto, MA, said that the UGM archives office has contributed much of their services primarily as data provider to UGM. Data and information are ranging from when UGM was first established up to this day. "World Class Research University will not be able to be achieved without the role of UGM archives office," said Djoko.
Machmoed Effendhie said the profession of archivist is seen as extraordinary. Unfortunately, rewards to the archivist have not been commensurate with their tasks.
"The tasks of the archivist are remarkable both as archivists and records managers. Unfortunately, the reward has not been as much as expected as compared to librarians," said Machmoed.
Nevertheless, Machmoed is optimistic there will be improvements, especially that Act No. 43 of 2009 on Archiving accommodates improvement of "appreciation” for archives staff.
"I was invited by the House of Representatives at the preparation of this Act. We shall wait, hopefully soon, there is an improvement of rewards for archivists through issuance of a Government Regulation," Machmoed explained.
Machmoed also mentioned that UGM archives office has applied the standard of archive nationally and internationally. In fact, the standard that has been applied has been widely adopted by foreign institutions and universities.
To his visitors, Machmoed affirmed that the duty of an archivist would work well despite constraints in building issues. He considered that in carrying out their tasks, system is more important than building issues. "We prioritize the system. The building issue could be set aside, because data recording can be done on a bulkhead instead of a building," Machmoed concluded.