Licensed Librarians In Philippine Public School Libraries

There is this bit of good news from PBBY board member, Neni SR Cruz, in her article on 70 more Library Hubs to grow in Cebu, Makati and Muntinlupa. DepEd has apparently approved the posting of a licensed librarian in public schools --

Muntinlupa schools division superintendent Fe L. Faz also formally announced the long-awaited happy news: after two years of discussions, the licensed librarian post was finally approved by the Department of Education.

This move by the DepEd cast a ray of light for the development of Philippine public school libraries and in effect, the possible growth of libraries as reading and learning centers . If it is a sign that DepEd has finally recognized the law (RA 9246) and the role that librarians play in the improvement of the Library Hubs, then hope springs eternal indeed. In the middle of all this, I could not help but look for any involvement by professional library organizations or schools offering Library & Information Science. It seems that, if they have any contribution to this happy news (that took years to fulfill), then librarians and teachers of Library & Information Science are a humble and quiet lot.

Or, it only goes to show that there are plenty of people and organizations who are bent on building libraries so children could be given access to books and reading materials. It does not matter anymore if they come from the library profession. It takes a community to raise a library.