Challenges in Accessing Scientific and Technological Information in Indonesia the Economic Crisis

摘要

The world economic crisis shook Asia first in July 1996 and has since crossed borders with a shock wave that still reverberates. What has happened in Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia, during the last three years has halted a pattern of unprecedented growth enjoyed during the previous three decades. The crisis has forced the government to reexamine economic policies and priorities and has had an impact upon individual institution budgets. At this point the Indonesian economic and political situation is still unstable, and the economic and monetary crisis has set back the development we have achieved for more than 30 years. A good example is the currency exchange rate. Near the beginning of the crisis when the now-ousted president Abdurachman Wahid took his post, the exchange rate of the Indonesian currency, the Rupiah, was Rp. 6750 against the US dollar. The Rupiah reached its lowest value in 2001 when the Rupiah sank to Rp. 11,350, reflecting an almost 90% increase in the purchasing price of foreign materials. What institution can maintain library resource development with that rate of increase?