Children's Literature at the Aceh Library and Archive Services (An Analysis of the Availability of Illustrated Story Book Collections)

Literacy is a person's ability to understand and present information when reading and writing, therefore reading and writing are very important for everyone. Etymologically, the term literacy comes from the word literatus which means a person who learns. So, literacy is closely related to reading and writing. Purwati defines literacy as literacy, the ability to read and write, literacy or proficiency in reading and writing. The definition of literacy based on the context of its use is an integration of writing, reading and critical thinking skills.1 Sholeh argues that literacy is an ability to literacy such as writing, reading, speaking, and understanding the meaning and content of reading or words related to one's cognitive skills.2 Children are the next generation of the country's future investment who are born with full hope. Because children are the future of the country, they need to be fostered in positive things from an early age because of their nature which tends to imitate things in their surroundings. If children are taught positive things from an early age, positive things this will be follow him until he grows up and even until the end of his life. Children must have a good environment during their golden age, whether it is a family environment, friendships, education, and one of them is the role of libraries which must participate in the development of children's golden age, namely by providing good literature or literary works for children. Therefore, children should be introduced to valuable literature from an early age and their reading and writing skills need to be developed from an early age. The right time to make efforts to develop children's creativity should start from an early age, because providing children with appropriate literature from an early age is considered to be able to increase children's literacy and reading readiness at the next age. The availability of children's literature in public libraries is an obligation and provides children's literature that is ready to be used to meet children's information needs. Therefore, the availability of literature in the library must be complete, appropriate to the child's age, and well managed. The current condition of children's literature in Indonesia does not look good. In 2023, the Language Development and Fostering Agency held a socialization activity for the Young Generation Literacy Development Program (Phase II) at the Resinda Hotel, Karawang, West Java. Hafidz Muksin as the secretary explained the results of a study in 2021 that Indonesia was experiencing a literacy emergency. The literacy of the Indonesian people is very low. Moreover, the habit of using gadgets currently causes a decrease in interest in reading. Fussy children are presented with gadgets as entertainment so that they get used to it.3 Several previous studies have presented findings that show that early literacy or the introduction of children's literature at an early age by producing story books has an impact on encouraging the acceleration of language development for early childhood.4 Further data shows that Indonesian children are still low in reading literacy skills. In 2007 based on the results of the OEDC assessment showed that Indonesia was ranked 48th out of 56 countries which means that Indonesia's position is very alarming when compared to other countries. While in 2009 the assessment conducted by PISA on Indonesian students again showed low results of 402. This condition puts Indonesia in 57th place out of 65 countries assessed by OEDC in 2010.5 In line with the research conducted by Fatmawanti and Rukiyah in 2017 related to children's literature often borrowed by Grhatama Pustaka Library users in 2016, namely: Survival: Borneo Keluarga Super Irit 4: 100 tips for saving to become rich and Rabbids mentioned that children's literature in the Grhatama Pustaka Library which was in the top three most frequently borrowed in 2016 was comics. In this case, it shows the tendency of children to choose literature that suits their tastes. Then the research conducted by Ratnasari and Zubaidah in 2019 states that picture storybooks have an influence on the speaking ability of children aged 4-5 years. The increase in children's speaking ability occurs because learning using illustrated storybook media is one of the strategies that can be used to develop the principle of playing while learning and making children the center of learning in early childhood education. 7 In addition, Gusmayanti and Ayriza in their research, Picture Storybook Analysis in Improving Early Childhood Theory of Mind Ability states that picture storybooks are able to improve children's ability to understand other people's situations and circumstances, or in developmental psychology called theory of mind. 8 The difference between this research study and previous research is that the researcher focused on children's literature in the Aceh Library and Archives Service and want to see more about the availability of children's literature in the form of illustrated storybook collections. This study strengthens the previous study and also focuses on analyzing the availability of children's literature, namely the collection of illustrated storybooks, their types and the maintenance process at the Aceh Library and Archives Service. Based on the described phenomenon, the author determines the title, namely "Children's Literature at the Aceh Library and Archives Service (An Analysis of the Availability of Illustrated Story Book Collections)" and the research questions are as follow: 1. How is the availability of illustrated story book collections at the Aceh Library and Archives Service? 2. How types of illustrated story book collections are availability at the Aceh Library and Archives Service? 3. How is the maintenance process of the illustrated story book collections at the Aceh Library and Archives Service? LITERATURE REVIEW Children's Literature Children's literature is reading material specifically for children. Children usually enjoy literature that is accompanied by pictures, because it will be easier for children to understand the meaning of the reading.9 Children's literature can also be interpreted as a special book that has been created specifically for children, usually consisting of fiction, adventure, heroism, illustrations and accompanied by CDs or DVDs. Huck and Kiefer defines children's literature as a reading book that is specifically designed for children which can provide a reflection or influence on the emotions and experiences of children.10 Children's literature (children's books) is reading material that contains things that are appropriate to the age and level of ability or education of children.11 Literature about children may not contain content that is appropriate for children, but literature for children is certainly intentionally and appropriately tailored for children as readers. Brady stated that in selecting children's reading material, caution and a critical attitude must be prioritized because of differences in the speed of children's maturity due to the socio-cultural conditions of society.12 Brady argues that researchers have identified the age, stages and characteristics of children's psychological development, which include aspects of thinking, language, personality, morals, and related questions that can help in selecting literary readings.13 So from the several definitions above, children's literature can be interpreted that children's literature is a written work created specifically for children that has been adjusted in content and context. Children's literature also consists of fiction, non-fiction, printed and non-printed. Illustrated Story Book Illustrated or picture story books are books that have a special place in the world of children. According to the great dictionary of the Indonesian language, "illustrated" is a verb derived from the word "picture", meaning news that is clarified through pictures or illustrations (according to the creator's creation).14 According to Mitchell et al, illustrated story books consist of pictures and writings that come together to form a story.15 Meanwhile, Nurgiyantoro explains that illustrated story books are story reading books that display narrative text verbally accompanied by pictures as illustrations.16 This opinion is in line with Huck et al who also stated that illustrated books convey messages through two mediums, namely through pictures and writing. Both opinions show that story scripts and illustrations are characteristics of illustrated books that distinguish illustrated books from other books in general.17 From some of the opinions above, it can be concluded that illustrated story books are a very interesting media for children because the book is presented by displaying pictures and writing, besides not being monotonous for children, of course this illustrated story book is a fun collection. In addition, through this illustrated story book, it can be a medium in conveying stories for children that can build children's imagination and increase children's knowledge.

This research uses qualitative research methods. 18 The theory used is about children’s literature and illustrated story books. The subjects in this study were selected using purposive sampling technique. 19 Manan explains that Purposive sampling is “the assembling of a sample by intentionally seeking individuals or situations likely to yield new instances and greater understanding of a dimension or concept of interest”.20 The power of purposeful sampling lies in selecting information-rich cases for in-depth study. This type of nonprobability sampling21 is most often used in qualitative research. 22 The criteria for choosing this sample (4 librarians and 4 staff of the deposit room) were because the respondents had relevant characteristics and met the background wanted by the study. The instruments used in this research were meticulous observation, in depth interviews and documentation.23 Data is generated through 5 collection availability indicators according to Siregar. 24 Then the collected data is presented in the form of tables and figures to be further analyzed based on the Miles and Huberman data analysis model.25

Availability of Illustrated Story Book Collections at the Aceh Library and Archives Service The availability of collections greatly affects a library, the good and bad of a library is judged by the quality and existence of the collection. According to Sutarno the availability of library collections is the existence of a number of collections or library materials owned by the library which are sufficient in number, the collections are provided so that they can be used by the library's users.26 According to Yulia and Sujana, the availability of collections means the readiness of library materials that have been collected, processed, and stored to then be served and disseminated to the public in order to meet their information needs.27 In this study, the author will explain the availability of illustrated story book collections at the Aceh Library and Archives Service. The research results show that: Table 1: Research Results Regarding the Availability of Illustrated Story Book Collections at the Aceh Provincial Library and Archives Service NO COMPONENT ANALYSIS RESULTS REASON 1. Variety of Collection Types Quite Complete Quite complete, because there are still several books written by Acehnese authors that are not yet available and not yet in e-book form. 2. Number of Collections Adequate Adequate, because so far there has been no request for a specific title/type of illustrated book. 3. Collection Quite Up To Quite up to Updates Date date, because the collection of illustrated stories has not been updated frequently and the renewal of the collection is based on the available budget but the existing collection is fairly updated as seen from the existence of a number of collections published in the last 3 years. 4. Relevance Relevant Relevant, because it has gone through a classificatio n process so that the existing collection is in accordance with children's needs. 5. Collection Quality Good Well, because seen from the content and author and also there are several translated edition books and illustrated story books in two languages, namely English and Indonesian. Where the collection is written by domestic authors and several foreign authors. The results of the above research are assessed based on the regulation of the head of the national library republic of Indonesia number 9 year 2017 on the national standard of provincial library Stating that the types of provincial library collections are tailored to the needs of the community in the province to support regional development policies. The types of provincial library collections consist of written works, printed works, recorded works, and works in electronic form. The results showed that the variety or type of collection at the Aceh Library and Archives Service was quite complete, because the entire collection was available in printed or book form while there were still several books by Acehnese authors not yet available and not yet in e-book or digital form. The number of collections of type C Provincial Libraries is at least 50,000 titles, for type B: at least 60,000 titles, and type A: at least 70,000 titles. The results showed that the total number of collections in the Aceh library and archives service consisted of 63,070 titles. While the number of children's collections amounted to 5,015 titles and specifically illustrated storybooks currently as many as 50 titles of collections with a total collection of 100 copies of various types of genres. Although it is relatively small, the collection of illustrated storybooks is adequate because so far visitors still enjoy the existing collection and there has been no demand for certain titles/types of illustrated storybooks. Collection update the latest library collection published in the last 3 (three) years is at least 5% of the total collection in the current year. From the results of the study, it shows that the update of the collection in the library and archives service of Aceh is quite up-to-date. Types of Illustrated Story Book Collections at the Aceh Library and Archives Service Saxby and Winch defines that illustrated books, "...means a work of fiction in which text and pictures are at least of equal importance..." This opinion emphasizes that writing and pictures are equally important components in an illustrated book.28 Furthermore, Huck et al state that illustrated books convey messages through two mediums/types, namely through pictures and writing.29 This is in line with the collection illustrated story books at the Aceh Library and Archives Service, most of the collections contain writing and pictures. Next, the researcher wants to discuss the types of illustrated story book collections at the Aceh Library and Archives Service. Collections in a library include printed and non-printed collections. Printed collections include books, magazines, and newspapers. While non-printed collections include CDs, DVDs, recordings, cassettes and so on.30 The findings that researchers obtained for the types of illustrated story book collections at the Aceh Library and Archives Service currently include 50 collection titles, with a collection totaling 100 copies, all of which are in monograph form. (printed books). The following is a table of types of illustrated story books available at the Aceh Library and Archives Service: Table 2: Research Results Regarding Types of Illustrated Story Book Collections at the Aceh Provincial Library and Archives Service No Types of illustrated Story Books Number of Collections 1. Folk Tales 6 Titles 2. Education Stories 5 Titles 3. Fable Story 10 Titles 4. Adventure Story 8 Titles 5. Friendship Story 7 Titles 6. Family Story 7 Titles 7. Inspirational Stories 7 Titles The Process of Maintaining the Illustrated Story Collection at the Aceh Library and Archives Service There are several stages carried out by librarians to carry out the process of maintaining a collection of illustrated stories, namely: 1. Weeding stage Weeding is a library activity to eliminate library materials contained in library collections due to damaged collections, rarely used and no longer used, and due to legal or regulatory factors.31 Based on the results of observations and interviews, it was shown that librarians in the children's room of the Aceh Library and Archives Service have been carrying out weeding every time they handle damaged books, which will then be handed over to the deposit section to be further processed by staff in the room. 2. Fumigation Stages (fume) In terms, fumigation (from English fume which means smoke) is a method of pest control using pesticides. In this process, an area will be completely filled with gas or smoke, killing all pests in it.32 Based on the results of observations and interviews, researchers obtained information that in addition to physically repairing books through the previous weeding stage, the Aceh Library and Archives Service conducted a fumigation stage. The aim was to sterilize the reading room from various germs and pests that could damage the physical books and so on.

From the obtained data above, it can be concluded that the availability of illustrated story book collections at the Aceh Provincial Library and Archives Service is not yet complete because the collection has not met the 5 indicators of collection availability that are considered complete: variety of collection types, number of collections, up-to-dateness of collections, relevance of collections, and quality of collections. Of the 5 indicators, only 3 indicators are met while the other 2 indicators still need to be improved. The type of illustrated story book collection at the Aceh Library and Archives Service currently has 50 collection titles, with a collection of 100 copies, all of which are in the form of monographs (printed books). There are 7 types of illustrated story book collections at the Aceh Library and Archives Service, including; folk tales, educational stories, fables, adventure stories, friendship stories, family stories, and inspirational stories. The maintenance process for the illustrated story book collection at the Aceh Library and Archives Service is through 2 processes, namely; weeding and fumigation. There are several suggestions that the researcher would like to convey. For the Aceh Library and Archives Service, it is suggested to update the illustrated story books to be more updated so that the collection is not just the same. For the librarians and deposit room staff, it is suggested to continue to improve performance in preserving collections without exception for children's reading collections, for illustrated story books it is better to be given a separate shelf not mixed with other books. Limitation existed within our study in which the time duration for this research was quite short, only a month, so that we could not do in-depth interview with the subjects. In addition, the subjects were not quite often in the working room since they were also busy managing other stuffs instructed by their library head. It is recommended to conduct a more in-depth study on the availability of illustrated story book collections in public libraries in Banda Aceh and outside Banda Aceh city so that the availability of illustrated story book collections in general and widely can be known.