Bridging Books and Children Into the World of Digitization 1 of 4

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!