SA Surabaya Received a Grade A from the National Library

Surabaya, December 2, 2021 – The library of Sampoerna Academy Surabaya international school has been awarded a Grade A for its excellent facilities. The grade was awarded based on an assessment to several essential areas: the collection owned, infrastructure and facilities, services, personnel, operations and management, and other supporting components. The accreditation was conducted by the team from the National Library of the Republic of Indonesia and involved a thorough evaluation to each area indicator. As a part of the process, Sampoerna Academy Surabaya officially registered its library in March 2021 and submitted the final supporting documents last September.

“We are proud that, after a long appraisal process, our school finally received a Grade A. This, of course, has further solidified Sampoerna Academy’s commitment in providing internationally recognized education to our students, and one of the ways is by having a high-quality library,” stated John Murphy, the Principal of Sampoerna Academy Surabaya.

Literacy, he added, is an important element of students’ learning process, and libraries are a means to improve literacy among students. Therefore, it is important for a school to ensure various kinds of literature are available for their students.

“We implement a concept of education called STEAM, which refers to Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics. This method has been proven to be successful in shaping students into individuals who have competence in the areas of communication, collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and character – or what we call the 5Cs. [When it comes to] supporting the achievement of this goal, libraries play an important role in accelerating the process.”

By providing more than 5000 items in its collection, the Sampoerna Academy Surabaya library is aiming to become an effective library in developing students’ literacy skills. The library also constantly publishes an extensive list of creative and innovative works. What’s more, it regularly holds various literacy programs which are open not only to students, but also to the public, while still implementing the STEAM approach to pique the interest and promote the literacy culture among the younger generations.

“With a collection of mostly non-fiction books, e-books, audio-visual books, and subscription-based newspapers and tabloids, we believe that our goal to create a literate society through our library will be easier to achieve. We educate the children within the school environment to love reading, love libraries, and love doing research.”

Besides offering a wide range of literature collection, the Sampoerna Academy Surabaya library also continuously makes various innovations to help the school accomplish its vision and mission. There are several innovations that received positive remarks from the National Library of Indonesia: the provision of robotic toys to support the curriculum, a Library Drive-Thru system where students can borrow books from home and pick the items up at school, the use of iPad for reading, and the Sampoerna Corner where the works of Sampoerna Academy students, teachers, and their families are displayed together.

“What’s more, we also feature our uniqueness to be experienced by visitors, especially children; for example, [we have] a story time place or a place for storytelling, an attractive room, shelves that were specially designed to make it easier for students to pick up books, and comfortable seats for reading activities.”

With this honor bestowed, Sampoerna Academy Surabaya is evermore committed to continue its mission to provide various sources of information for students, reinforcing their ever-growing knowledge and love of reading.

“This library will be the center of information literacy, idea literacy, and concept literacy for our students in the future,” he concluded.