IASL Day 5: Closing Ceremonies & Ubud Artists' Village

Five things I will always remember from ALA President, Barbara Stripling, when she delivered her keynote speech on the last day of the IASL Conference in Bali:

a. Balance digital and print resources.

b. Provide collaborative experiences.

c. Foster creativity.

d. Empower youth to TELL stories (my personal favorite, for obvious reasons).

e. Create virtual learning communities.

Visit Barbara Stripling's website to read and share the white paper she wrote about libraries and the power we have to change people's lives.

 Dr. Diljit Singh, IASL President closed the 42nd IASL Conference and led the delegates to usher in representatives from Moscow as the next host of the annual conference in 2014. Congratulations to ATPUSI for a job well done in this 42nd conference of IASL. We dream of one day hosting the IASL Conference in Manila. Or in Cebu; Davao; Tagaytay, perhaps? 

Some photos from the after-conference tour in Ubud.

IASL 2013: Librarians & Friends of the Library From All Over

Ayse Yuksel-Durukan from Turkey who shall tell me a story about trees.

Pilar Francisco form Qatar Academy, an IB World School. Beside her is Waldet Cueto of Rizal Library.

Dr. Rachmawaty reads School Librarian in Action

With Inez, who looks so young!

With Mrs. Raina Singh, First Lady of IASL

Mutsumi from Kyoto, Japan who teaches cultural studies.

IASL 2013 Day 1: Opening Ceremony

I have attended one workshop and two paper/research presentations already in the IASL 2013 Annual Conference but the opening ceremony was only done after lunch today. The program consisted of speeches from the Indonesian Minister of Education, Mohammad Nuh; the director of the National Library of Indonesia Dir. Sri Sularshi; and beloved IASL President, Dr. Diljit Singh.

Holding a miniature Philippine flag. Ma'am Lou David was our flag bearer.

 Keynote speech for the plenary session was given by newly elected president of IFLA, Sinikka Sipila. There were two things I got from her keynote address: the IFLA Trend Report and the three areas of focus that her leadership will address as far as school libraries are concerned. These are access, inclusion, and capacity building.

Like in any opening program, there were dances and music. Guests and participants were treated to an exotic and unique welcome of Balinese dancing. The dancers were high school seniors in Denpasar School number 3. The young men who played the music were high school seniors too. Even the hosts of the program were both seniors. I enjoyed listening to the Indonesian national anthem because of its pleasant melody but also because, it was sung by young people. How apt! Their presence amplified one of the many raison de'etre of school librarians!

With the two young Balinese host. They did a fantastic job!

You're doing something right, Indonesia! Bravo!