Opened Doors*

In the fairy tale, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, a magical door to a cavern filled with priceless treasures could be opened using a most interesting password: Open Sesame! Thus, the one who knows the password could easily have access to the cavern’s contents. This part of the fairy tale would always leave me in awe because the school library is very much like the cavern of treasures in the story. The doors of the school library, however, are always open for its main users, students and teachers, who are equipped with the knowledge and skill in using the learning resources that are available.

Learning resources refer to the combination of print, AV and electronic formats for teaching, instruction and leisurely activities. The GS LRC gears up with initiatives that balance the utility of these learning resources.

Storytelling Workshop. Last November 8, 2006, 35 parents trooped to the EED LRC for a fun filled workshop on Storytelling. These parents were all volunteers for the National Book Week celebration in the EED. Already an annual workshop, it had new offerings and techniques for the parents who attended. With their positive evaluation of the activity, more and more parents would be confident enough to tell stories. As one parent puts it, “…[I learned how to be] engaging so that kids would enjoy and like reading books.”

Mediashoppe & Techtorial. These two programs of the GS LRC have helped teachers identify instructional materials for the classroom. One very important service that the AV section of the GS LRC has been giving to Filipino & Social Studies teachers is the recording and dubbing of commercials for their media education lesson. Integrated in the Filipino and Social Studies curriculum, the commercials are used to teach concepts, and enhance critical thinking skills. The good news is, ads and commercials can now be accessed via the Internet. It is only a matter of time until procedures for using and embedding them in PowerPoint presentations could be identified to agree with the correct use of copyright and intellectual property.

Online Directory. Reference & IT Librarian, Mrs. Chit Olivares has come up with an online directory for teachers. Using a free hosting website, FURL.com, it is now easier to track URLs of websites for teaching. It may sound like your ordinary Bookmark in a web browser but FURL lends help by referring users to other web resources available in its online database. It even has a filtering capability to prevent sites of malicious content. What’s more, building the directory of websites can be done in a communal effort. That is why the GS librarians are putting their heads together to present this directory/database to teachers in the hope that they can use it, and at the same time, contribute to its development.

These are but a few of the many treasures that the GS LRC can provide the learning community. Its doors are always open and no password is needed to access resources and information that are appropriate to students and useful to teachers.

* This article first appeared in the Xavier School Website.