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Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Pandemic Libraries: Children's Section, Reference Services Division, National Library of the Philippines

As I am preparing for talks and articles on libraries pivoting and shifting in the new normal, I have requested librarians to answer interview questions. I am posting some portions of the interview in the blog. Here is the interview of Melanie Abad Ramirez of the Children's Library Section, Reference Services Division, National Library of the Philippines.

How did the Children's Services of the NLP pivot and shifted their services and programs online at the start of the lockdown/quarantine?


NLP had to close its services due to the pandemic, it gave us an opportunity for our children's services to transition to online services. We promoted our e-resources portal and used online platforms like Facebook and Zoom becomes as an avenue for storytelling, puppet shows, and arts and crafts sessions.

What were the challenges that your division encountered in light of this shift and transition? How were these challenges met and overcome?


Some of the challenges that we encountered are copyright concerns about the materials to be used for the storytelling sessions and how effective the postings will be. To answer the issues for copyright, we are able to create a partnership with The Asia Foundation to provide us with stories from their Let's Read Asia digital library and other publishers by sending them an email requesting their publication. To ensure that the postings will reach our clients, we share it to our personal accounts and to other Facebook groups. We also encourage our viewers to share them in their own accounts and groups as well. 

Visit the NLP's Book Cart Project for videos of Melai "Kuwentistang Librarian" Abad Ramirez telling stories and her colleagues conducting arts and crafts activities online.


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