Liblicious is a national scientific writing competition in the form of program proposals organized by the Library and Information Science Study Program, Faculty of Communication Sciences, Universitas Padjadjaran, under Epicentrum BEM Fikom Unpad. It connects students across Indonesia and develops creativity, critical thinking, analytical skills, and problem-solving abilities in responding to social issues. This year, Liblicious carries the theme “The Role of Library Collection Development in Supporting Literacy Programs for the Protection of Children from Bullying,” encouraging participants to design innovative programs that position libraries as safe, collaborative spaces for communities and educational institutions through information literacy and collection development.

The Role of Library Collection Development in Supporting Literacy Programs for the Protection of Children from Bullying

One of the most common forms of violence occurring in educational environments is bullying, whether physical, verbal, psychological, or social. Based on JPPI data from 2024, bullying is one of the most dominant forms of violence against children in educational institutions, ranking second at 31% after sexual violence at 42%. JPPI emphasizes that sexual violence and bullying are included in the category of the “three major sins of education,” along with intolerance. Bullying among school-aged children is a complex and multidimensional issue influenced by social norms, power relations among peers, the normalization of violent culture, and low awareness of children’s rights. Based on data from JPPI and KPAI, the most frequent type of bullying is physical bullying, accounting for approximately 55,5%. This includes action such as hitting, kicking, and other forms of physical violence. Verbal or psychological bullying ranks second at around 29,3% and usually takes the form of insults, mockery, threats, or social exclusion, causing victims to feel emotionally distressed and hurt. Bullying is considered highly damaging because it not only harms victims physically but also leaves long-term psychological impacts, such as trauma, decreased self-confidence, mental health disorders, and the loss of a sense of safety at school. Therefore, information literacy plays a very important role as a form of bullying prevention. Information literacy is implemented to increase children’s awareness of bullying. Information literacy activities may include information literacy training, education for parents and child caregivers, community discussions, literacy campaigns, or other innovations that raise awareness of the forms, impacts, and prevention of bullying, so that bullying can be prevented before it develops into more serious violence. Libraries, as centers of information and learning, have strategic potential to strengthen bullying prevention efforts through information literacy programs supported by collection development. In participants’ works, solutions must focus on the development of child-friendly library collections, oriented toward child protection, and relevant to the needs of children, parents, educators, communities, and information institutions. Collection development includes the processes of planning, selection, acquisition, and enrichment of library materials that are safe, age-appropriate, and supportive of efforts to prevent bullying among children. Through collection development, libraries provide inclusive and accessible information resources that can be utilized as educational tools and literacy media to support the creation of safe and child-friendly learning environments for children and the community. Libraries often collaborate with local communities in the acquisition of collections for literacy programs. Local communities such as reading communities or child communities can help raise awareness of bullying and contribute to its prevention by organizing anti-bullying information literacy programs for children, based on their experiences interacting with children and parents. Therefore, in preparing program proposals, participants are encouraged to collaborate with reading communities or child communities across Indonesia. As a follow-up to this discussion, university students throughout Indonesia who participated in Liblicious were encouraged to become agents of change by developing program proposals or strategic innovations to prevent bullying among children through an information literacy approach supported by library collection development. It is expected that the proposed programs will provide solutions that enhance the ability of children, parents, and communities to seek, understand, evaluate, and utilize information critically and responsibly, enabling them to recognize signs of bullying, take preventive measures, and respond appropriately to bullying cases based on a child protection perspective.