Librarians Leading & Collaborating for a Reading Culture

My two sessions on the importance of Reading in a Digital World ended this afternoon. The participants had a workshop on the IFLA Internet Manifesto right after lunch. They read through the document and discussed programs and services in the library that they've been implementing. These had to be in congruent to the manifesto. The output of each group was given back to Ms. Evelyn Nabus and Mrs. Susima Gonzales. It will be part of the feedback document that PLAI will send to IFLA.



There was a good number of male librarians in the audience. I particularly asked them to report for the group. What's noticeable though was the different stages and levels of library needs and problems that participants brought up in the open. Some librarians are still in conceptualization stage of adapting Internet services. Most have set up Internet stations in their libraries. The expected issues on budget and staffing, constraints in time and support from the administration cropped up. To this, I had to segue to optimism and leadership skills. Problems will remain problems unless acted upon.



There are also non-librarians in the group who were assigned library duties. Sir Egay Castillo of Cebu is one. He's very willing to learn on the job though. His enthusiasm is contagious! Here's wishing him all the luck he needs in running the public library in Cebu.



Will be posting more photos and some output from the groups during the first session.