I will be posting my plenary lecture on transformed children's library services in four parts. The plenary lecture is for the 1st International Conference on Children's Librarianship. It is a three day conference in Tagaytay City.
Here is the first part.
Introduction
Today I am going to speak about three
areas of children's library services that are very close to my heart:
children's literature, particularly the ones created by Filipino writers,
illustrators and publishers; the Filipino child; and technology in general. I
have included examples and models of digitized stories for children created by
our local writers, artists and content providers which I will share with you in
the later part of my presentation.
Before I give my input on the topics
at hand, allow me to digress since I am struck by the theme of the conference,
especially with the word transformed. In this age of rapid changes, there is a
demand for librarians to be transformed and to transform others. The fact that
you are here, in a children's librarianship conference proves that you are open
to transforming yourself so that you can be a transformer, someone who is
capable of transforming others. We can establish connections and linkages when
we are transformed librarians. We can provide transformed children’s library
services when we have fully experienced a transformation. But what exactly does
it mean to be transformed? When can we say we are transformed?
William Spady, the proponent of
Outcomes Based Education, identifies the transformed learner as an empowered
thinker, a visionary and focused on the future. Empowered thinking entails
critical thinking. Being a visionary requires creativity and innovation.
Keeping an eye towards the future would mean valuing the given time to develop
resources, to plan strategies and to reflect and figure out what works and what
does not in real life situations. Transformed learners understand the human
potential to learn continuously. From skills and competencies, learning for
life becomes a lifestyle, a culture, a philosophy.
Transformed librarians are lifelong learners capable of influencing and inspiring the community to work together in the design and delivery of library services that connects and links children to information and resources aiding them in the fulfillment of their potentials.
Let us begin to transform. Let us
continue to transform. Let us transform others as we in turn are transformed by
them!
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