What made me stay in the LIS profession and why…

(This is my Valentine post for this year as I was once again invited by Ms Zarah Gagatiga as a guest blogger. This talks about my love affair with my profession as a librarian.)

Becoming a librarian never entered my mind when I started my college education. While filling up UPCAT application form, I chose the following courses: Chemical Engineering and Journalism, very far from librarianship! I forgot the courses I chose for another campus though. Luckily, I passed and even got in at the College of Engineering! Two years after, I don’t want to stay at the college anymore but where to go?

I only submitted applications to two other colleges, or rather school as I tried to shift direction in my future career path. Guess the two schools? One was the School of Social Work and Community Development and second, the School of Library and Information Science, then Institute of Library and Information Science.  That was the time that I discovered the course! So, to make it short, I made it at the SLIS and right now, I work as a school librarian. Phew! What a way to discover my career back then. I’d say I am an accidental librarian, but I don’t regret it. During those times, many engineering students are shifting out from Engineering and trying their luck in ILIS. So, thanks to ILIS for accepting me as a shiftee student and for giving me the chance of becoming one of the librarians today. While I was a LIS student, I discovered simultaneously what a paradise the library is and what a joy reading is! Well, that happened maybe because I was deprived of books in public schools that I have attended before. Still, it was never too late to catch up on reading! One can say that I read a lot because of my profession. But the thing is, even if I’m not in this profession I will still read for leisure.

Miss Muffet with Clifford

Why I love the profession and still practicing it until now? For one, I really enjoy being a librarian. I like helping children in the library, assisting them if they need a particular book, suggesting books and acquiring books suited for their level. Doing storytelling sometimes is also one of the jobs that I like to do. It is always a joy to interact with kids and discuss some books. I even moderate a book club. In the library, whenever the kids learn that I also read the book that they borrow, they really got amazed! So I can say now that my relationship with books gets deeper and wider the more that I stay in this profession. And I know that I will never get tired of doing my job like selecting books, reading them and sharing them with the patrons. With the emergence of technology, I also take the challenge of encouraging children to read and imparting with them the importance of reading and books. Not only as a profession, but personally I also advocates spreading the love for reading and developing life-long readers. For as long as books exist and there are readers that use the library, I will stay in this profession!

In the future, I would like to blog about books and other interesting stuffs about libraries and librarians. I also believe that there are things I can contribute for the betterment of librarianship.

More power to all Filipino Librarians! J

Training at the capital of Europe

At the Atomium in Brussels

As previously mentioned, I was lucky to be selected as one of the participants in the long running training for librarians which happens to be in Brussels, capital of Europe. They call it capital of the Europe because Belgium is a host country to European Union, the economic and political union of 27 member states located in Europe.

STIMULATE 10 or Scientific and Technological Information Management in Universities and Libraries: an Active Training Environment (the last one in the series) is a three-month training for librarians and information specialists about information management in a lecture and hands-on training given by the professors who are expert in that field. Classes are conducted mostly at Vrije Universiteit Brussel Campus Etterbeek and a little on Campus Jette. The funding of the program came from VLIR-OUS.

The contents of the training are as follows: Management in Libraries and Information Centers, ICT for Libraries and Information Centers, Information Retrieval, Information Architecture and Digital Libraries, and Library Visits. Most of the library visits are limited to the area of Flanders, a region in Belgium where Brussels is located and where most people speak Dutch.

More to follow...:) 

My Once-in-a-Lifetime Chance

VUB Campus Etterbeek

I've been wanting to share this but along the way, I did not have the time to write. Uhm, why is that? I also wonder. Anyways, I really have to start writing now and keep this blog updated just like my very good chum, the Demigod Librarian Darrel Marco :)

Well, at the start of this year, I applied for a scholarship in Belgium for librarians. The training will last for three months and its about Information Management. I tried applying because there is no harm in trying. Who knows, I might get lucky. And lucky indeed, because last April I received the notification that I was selected. Yipee! The first thing I did was to run to the Demigod Darrel, jumped for joy and hugged him. Well, he knew about it as he also helped me in the preparation of documents.

And now, I am here in Brussels attending the training at the
Vrije Universiteit Brussel with the other two Filipinos and other classmates from various countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The notification at the beginning was really exciting but the experience of actually being in Brussels is way more exhilirating.Europe is a dream destination for most of us and by going there, all free is really such a blessing! I can't thank God enough for this wonderful opportunity and a once-in-a-lifetime chance! I am also thankful to all the people who helped me with the recommendation letters (Ms Natalie Dela Torre and Ms Dinah Franco) with special thanks to Mr Darrel Marco :)

I never knew that there are grants for librarians before till I tried it as suggested by other colleagues. And never did I dream of being selected as a participants. Wel, for all those who want to try this scholarship you may check this website:VLIR-UOS
And for the complete information on my scholarship,
you may check it here:STIMULATE 10

I will blog more about the program in the next posts. I hope some readers will be inspired to try scholarships in Europe because there are a lot of opportunites out there. We only have to search for it and have the courage to send application. In the end, we'll never really know we might get lucky. As I continue to participate in the training, I promise to share all the knowledge learned here once I get back home.

Mabuhay ang mga Filipino Librarians!

21st Century Librarians

Who are these 21st-century librarians? How many among your friends or family are in this line of field? Unless of course you are one of them, you'll be acquainted to most of them. Librarianship is not a popular profession even today, but it is slowly rising to the surface. Unbeknownst to many, there are a lot of works available to a graduate and qualified librarian. Nowadays, librarians are getting younger and younger and rapidly changes the shape and profile of the profession and the professionals.

Librarians today are a partner of the community not only in literacy advocacy but also in educating young people to become a life-long learners. Librarians, specially those who are working in school, have a great opportunity in raising children of today to love books and reading. 21st century has a great leap in technology, and so it is the of job of modern librarians to infuse reading with technology. I think that's the most important functions of modern librarians of today: making sure that books are still being read despite the advent of technology and also to keep instilling the value of reading.

Every professions should embrace this technology-driven era and keep up with it. Instead of deviating away from it, we should use it to our advantage. And so, in conclusion to this brief introductory blog, to me, 21st century librarians = books + reading + technology. The traditional skills of the librarians are still there but there is an additional important skill: technology skill.