Love a Librarian: Staying On! Staying Strong!

I have met many Filipino Librarians who became librarians by chance. Ann Grace Bansig is one of them. In this post, she reflects on the many rewards she had been given by being a school librarian.

Grace has been to Belguim to complete a scholarship grant for young LIS professionals. She is now working as the Upper Grades Readers’ Services Librarian in De La Salle Santiago Zobel School. Currently taking Master’s in Reading Education and a volunteer for the ATD Fourth World Philippines. She just started blogging at ispyalibrarian@blogspot.com.  

Becoming a librarian never entered my mind when I started my college education. While filling up the 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 I didn't know 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.  One was the School of Social Work and Community Development and second, the School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS), then Institute of Library and Information Science (ILIS).  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. 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.

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 advocate 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 stuff 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!