Helping Out

Everytime I get invited to give talks, seminars and workshops, be it national or international inivites, I sieze this opportunity and work out a schedule that is benign to my work in Xavier School. It is my way of helping out my fellow librarians in particular and advocating literacy development in general. There is a lot to be done for the improvement of Philippine School Librarianship that I could not afford to sit on the fence and watch the whole world change before my eyes. For school libraries to be left behind in the development and implementaion of new paradigms is a reflection of the values and priorities of our educational system.

I feel I had to be there in the evolution, creation and communication of ideas and skills because as a school librarian, I believe I am a TEACHER too. It would be a dream come true if one day, school librarians are recognized as equal partners of teachers. To accomplish the dream is a herculean task. When I get to this part, the dream beocmes a nightmare.

Thank God that there are NGO's and foundations who are committed to helping libraries. One of these is the Children's Library of the Gokongwei Brothers Foundation. I congratulate the The Children's Library for all their support to school libraries, especially, the ones in public schools. The TCL sponsors an annual seminar-workshop for school librarians. They had their 5th seminar workshop yesterday at Holiday Inn, Galeria. I was one of the resource persons invited. And I consider this an honor.

I hope that the participants get to impelement what they learned from the seminar-workshop. It is in trying to do one's best that things change for the better. Interacting with the paricipants was also a learning expereince for me. Now I have ideas and proposals to present to PBBY when we meet in August.