Filipino Librarians of the Month: The Deped Calamba Library Hub Librarians

L-R Elinor, Zarah and Myra

Last October, I was at the Deped Calamba Library Hub for a training session on reading activities among teachers of the Calamba public school system. This reading session came after my three day stint at the 6th Rizal Library International Conference. Organized by two librarians, Elinor Hemedes and Myra Ortega, the reading session went on smoothly to the delight of the participants.

I did not lecture nor presented theories that are way too big since they all came from a week long training session by the DepEd. We just read and talked about what we read about. The teachers felt relaxed. One of the participants said, "Bitin ang training, ma'am." (The training is too short).

But at the session's core are Elinor and Myra who work together in the Deped Library Hub system of Calamba, Laguna. Both afforded me an interview for the blog. Here are Elinor's answers to the interview questions.

1. Why did you decide to work in the DepEd library hub system?

I have decided to work in DepEd because I can't let this kind of opportunity pass. Also, I wanted to experience managing this unique kind of library system.

2. What are the challenges you face in managing the library hub? How do you overcome these challenges?

The main challenge that we face in managing the hub is increasing our borrowers, only few schools are patronizing our hub. To overcome this we seek support from our schools' division management team. We also plan our activities that will highlight the services of the hub. So far, we promoted the hub by organizing a training for the teacher librarians. We hope that through the training they were able to see the hub as a reading center. The hub books were also used during the storytelling contest for the reading month. Through this teachers were able to visit the hub and utilize our collection.

3. What are the success stories you have so far?

The pupils enjoy the library visit and participating in reading activities. The hub offers fun filled activities such as storytelling and word games. They were enthusiastic when they get to choose the books they want to read during their DEAR time. And lastly, successfully organizing a training for teacher librarians for the whole division of Calamba city, then receiving lots of positive feedback from the participants after [is an accomplishment].