Information Seeking Behaviour in the Mualaf Communities

of Al Falah Mosque in Surabaya

Panji

, Meinia Prasyesti Kurniasari

Department of Information and Library Studies, Universitas Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia

Keywords: information needs, information seeking behaviour, spiritual, mualaf

Abstract: Everyone has an awareness of their spiritual needs as an impact of the existence of the soul within man.

Spiritual needs can be obtained from various paths, and one of them is through religion. Some people study

the Islamic religion and finally choose to embrace the religion of Islam as their life guidance in the process

of meeting their needs of spirituality. The purpose of this study was to determine the behaviour of

information seeking among Mualaf at Al Falah Mosque in Surabaya. This research used the approach of the

Information Search Process theory. This theory explains the existence of initiation, selection, exploration,

formulation, collection and presentation in every process of information seeking among Mualaf. The

research method used was quantitative and descriptive with the number of respondents totalling 30 people

who were mualaf at the Muhtadin Institution in Masjid Al Falah, Surabaya. The number of Mualaf in

Indonesia in 2016 was 2,491 people. There was an increase in the number of Mualaf by around 5-6 percent

in the previous year. The number is expected to continue to increase given the current and numerous studies

about the religion of Islam. The number of Mualaf who made a pledge at Al Falah Mosque in Surabaya in

2017 was recorded at 161 people. The results of the research shows the involvement in each stage of the

Information Search Process concerning information seeking behaviour among the Mualaf registered and

active in the Muhtadin Institute of Masjid Al Falah. The conclusions of this study indicate that Mualaf in

Surabaya begin information seeking from the urge to become a Muslim. Good Muslims then encourage

Mualaf to search for information through information channels that are deemed appropriate to their

information needs. Satisfaction after sharing the information with fellow Mualaf is the end result of the

information seeking process. This process replaces anxiety and confusion with a sense of satisfaction at the

beginning of the process of information seeking.

1 INTRODUCTION

The road to pursuing a career in Library and

Information science is not forthright and there is no

straight direction in which to travel. Sometimes,

people who pursue a career as librarians as their

chosen profession experience some detours and

experience another job in their life. It also rare to

hear of university students who have been taught to

become a librarian from the beginning (Lo, 2017:

p.424). The librarian profession has not been in

much demand and is often unpopular in the

community, including school librarians. There are

37,133 school librarians in 365,000 school libraries

in Indonesia and 1,700 principals. The profession of

school librarians is duplicated by that of school

teachers. School librarians with a background of

Library Science are few, and there are distinct

advantages and disadvantages in this profession.

Besides, there are overlaps in the rules to being a

librarian, starting from recruitment, the career path,

the public image and through to their welfare.

Researchers are interested in knowing how the

choice to become a school librarian is formed by

people who pursue the profession of school

librarians with such conditions in place.

The self-image of the librarian profession is lost

to professions such as lecturers and teachers who are

still in one particular area of education. This

profession has been researched by Korneliza Pert

concerning the professions as a source of income.

The result is that librarians served in sixth position

230

Panji, . and Kurniasari, M.

Information Seeking Behaviour in the Mualaf Communities of Al Falah Mosque in Surabaya.

DOI: 10.5220/0008819602300232

In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Contemporary Social and Political Affairs (ICoCSPA 2018), pages 230-232

ISBN: 978-989-758-393-3

out of seven professions that are in demand after

doctors, teachers, constructors, economists and

lawyers. The latter is occupied by system’s

engineers or programmers. The National Library of

Indonesia and the librarian institution currently has

700 employees, including 178 functional librarians

and with one third being "librarians in passing", i.e.

functional librarians with no formal education

background in library and information science,

which involves ordinary people without any library

education performing the duties of a librarian.

The career path of a school librarian is limited

because of the potential of teachers to fill the

position of the Head of the Library with the presence

of Permendiknas Number 25 Year 2008. It is

because of a lack of appreciation and low welfare.

Endang Fitriyah Mannan's research on School

Librarian Retention in Surabaya 2010 stated that the

first salary received by school librarians is between

500 thousand and 1 million, and it can be even less

than 500 thousand rupiah depending on the

institution where the librarian works. This situation

is happening to school librarians in Surabaya. A

Bambang Prakoso Librarian in SMKN 10 said that

his salary was still below the minimum wage for

labour, at around 1 million rupiah. Mas Dwi, the

librarian of SMKN 2 in Surabaya, confirmed that the

salary he received after 5 years of work was two

million rupiah.

This study has explained the rationale choice

underlying the act of becoming a librarian and has

sought to know whether it serves as a quick way to

achieve the individual’s life goals. Are they

conscious in determining and choosing the librarian

profession as an individual preference or is there

something else involved? What is the impetus for an

individual who sets their choice as becoming a

school librarian? Is being a school librarian based on

a strong inner drive and done solemnly by the

individual, so then it will be directed and bring good

results into their life?

This study examined the reasons for becoming a

school librarian and how their rationality is formed

among the conditions in society. Thus, this context

can be formulated into two focus problems. The first

is why they chose to pursue the profession of school

librarian and the rationality of the librarian

profession among school librarians in the city of

Surabaya. The research was conducted qualitatively

using the social behaviour method from the

phenomenological perspective. This research

focused on knowing the cause of rational choices

among school librarians while the condition is still

considered to be unbeneficial. From the field data

alone, it was found that the salaries and other awards

received by school librarians are still below the

standard. Therefore, the study proves how rational

choices are formed to pursue the work of school

librarian.

2 RESEARCH RESULTS

Initially they plunge in the world of school libraries

for various reasons, which can be analysed from the

informant information. There were no informants

who said that they worked on the basis of

compulsion due to economic pressure. The push and

economic constraints factor was a driving factor for

working as a school librarian, but not the primary

and first driver of action.

From the results from the six informants, it was

known that they claimed the profession of the school

librarian which came from their desires through

various motivations, such as being influenced by

their educational background, the work in the library

being considered lighter than their previous work

experience because there was no pressure, feeling

challenged by the management at the school library

as well as comparing the work of the school librarian

in their hometown with the city of Surabaya. Their

desire was also derived from the profession of

school librarian who, according to them, is an open

door to providing education because by they can

give children the correct information and education

is very important. This is because “information

literacy is a necessity for everyday life decisions and

is considered to be essential to the point that it was

endorsed by UNESCO’s ‘Information for all’

programme as a basic human right… (Demasson et

al., 2017: p.1).

Although there were informants who admitted to

entering the world of libraries by chance, after

experiencing the profession, they feel secure and

have been working for more than six years. The

awareness of careful consideration for those working

in the school library by Coleman is described in his

theory of norms. He argues that the norms are built

and conserved by some who see the benefits of

compliance within the norms and dangers posed by

violations of the norms. School librarians, as the

actor in school libraries, are automatically bound by

regulations applied in their school. This is as well as

the unity that the library within the organizational

structure represents still not standing alone;

librarians are encouraged to perform tasks in the

field of administration as well. With a mature

Information Seeking Behaviour in the Mualaf Communities of Al Falah Mosque in Surabaya

231

consideration, finally a candidate plunges into the

world of school libraries and becomes a librarian.

The actor has hopes and goals within their

actions, in an effort to realise that their hopes and

objectives can be achieved. They always undertake

careful consideration by prioritising the benefit

maximisation involved so then the actor receives

benefits from every action that he or she undertakes.

Differences in the hopes and goals are there but they

have something in common in that their interests can

be achieved by doing the actions of a school

librarian. In this context, the choice to become a

librarian school is to obtain a tool that is then used as

a follow-up to the goal of becoming a teacher,

because by becoming a school librarian, the actor

could receive more compensation regarding the

income of a teacher.

Another informant revealed that he wants to

become a lecturer and then with the knowledge

gained in the field of libraries, he could then take

further action to get compensation and use it to

finance himself to become a lecturer. There are also

those who make the school librarian profession their

goal, because of the easy recruitment process, the

job demands not being as heavy as their previous

job, as well as flexible work.

3 CONCLUSIONS

Webber's theory of rational choice states that the

ratio of one's personality is derived from two key

factors, namely the tools and the actors to achieve

the maximum benefit that underlies an action. In

pursuing the profession of school librarian as a

rational act, it cannot be separated from the objective

educational environment of the actor who is

equipped with a set of tools. However, it can occur

by looking at the opportunities and actions that can

be accepted and done as a rational effort. What is the

behaviour of the school librarian's election and how

does his / her rationality decide to prompt them to

work as a school librarian? Why do they persist with

their profession, in the midst of the problems that

librarians are plagued by? Based on the results of

research into the rational choice of school librarian

professions, the research formula is summarised as

follows.

In the beginning of their behaviour, their choice

comes from consciously thinking of pursuing the

profession of school librarian by considering the

tools that they have, and then moving on to the

external factors by looking at maximising the

benefits that they can gain from the profession of

school librarian. The action is based only on the

opportunities that are open and likely to be accepted

due to an action. The process of thinking afterwards

just weighs on the maximum beneficial aspect that

will be obtained by the rational actors. This thinking

process involves consideration if the actor tries to

perform actions that are inconsistent with the tools

that he possesses and what impacts it has on him. In

the end, we can see the advantages of the chosen

profession of librarian being an answer to the

necessities of life.

The advantages gained by the actors who have

the tools in accordance with larger libraries are

found to be in comparison with the actors who do

not have the tools. The actors with tool discrepancies

require time to adapt to the work in the library. The

opportunity to develop their knowledge of library

science is also wide open for actors with the

appropriate tools, with the development of the actor

increasingly allowing them to able to multiply their

tools, with the implication of obtaining maximum

benefits.

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