At the 22nd Grand Assembly and Induction of Officers of PNULISAA

I am mighty proud of the officers of PNULISAA, past and present! Look at where the alumni association is now. Like all organizations, it is not free of flaws. It has its share of ups and downs, failures and triumphs but 22 years after, we are still here carrying the torch. Keeping it alight and ablaze well into the next generations of LIS graduates of PNU.

Who would have thought that the “kuwentuhan” we had all those years ago of building a community of LIS alumni would come to this - a vibrant and hopeful community of librarians, archivists, media specialists, teachers, professors and information professionals. I am humbled to be this year’s inducting officer and appreciative of the honor and respect received from my peers and colleagues today.

I raise my glass to Ate Nora Conti (+) whose leadership and mentorship steered us, the founding officers of PNULISAA, into the right direction during the alumni association’s early years. We will continue to make our Inang Guro proud!

The FALAKASTALAS Forum 2017 at the Philippine Normal Univeristy

My professor in college, Prof. Ruth Alido, is now the Associate Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Letters at the Philippine Normal University (PNU). When I received her invitation to be a panelist in the annual Panayam (dubbed as FALAKASTALAS), I said yes. How can I say no to my Alma Mater and to Prof. ALido who introduced me to Nick Joaquin, Paz Marquez Benitez, Estrella Alfon and Ninotchaka Rosca. What made this speaking engagement equally meaningful is that, I gave the little knowledge I know about language learning through library services to students of education majoring in Literature, Language (English and Filipino), Music, Speech and the Arts.

L-R: Sir Joel, Ka Heber, Prof. Alido, Zarah G., Sir Noel and Bebang Siy

I hope that this little knowledge multiplies having interacted with 500 PNU students!

That day of the forum was World Read Aloud Day. So, I began with a read aloud of the book, Library Mouse (Kirk, Scholastic). I had to read the book since the audience choose to. I have a copy of the e-book, but the PNU students prefer seeing a live read aloud session. Another highlight of the morning of the was my tandem telling of Juan and the Rice Pot with Jude, a music education major. I told the story in Filipino. Jude told it in his mother tongue, Cebuano.

It was an enjoyable session and I did learn and gather insights from the rest of the panelists.

Pinoy Zines

Bebang Siy shared, showed and told stories about self publishing and Zines, pamphlet like reading materials of a story or stories produced using a photocopying machine. In this day and age, writing and literature are taking a movement towards mass readership. Think Wattpad, Amazon self publishing platforms and yes, Zines. If librarians pay attention enough on Zines, we can bring our readers closer to resources that will inspire them to create their own stories. Sir Noel Taylo of CCP's Tanghalang Pilipino emphasized the importance of research when creating art with different peoples and communities. Ka Heber Bartolome remains to be a force to reckon with. Here is a man who has seen the rise and fall of leaders and the changing of the guards. His love for country is still very muc evident in his music.

I wish I could have stayed the rest of the day at PNU to visit old haunts, friends and the library. But, work awaited in Binan. So, there is reason for me to go back.

Filipino Librarians: The BSE Library Science Majors of PNU Batch 1994 (Part 1)

I graduated with a bachelors degree in Secondary Education at the Philippine Normal University in 1994. I majored in Library Science and picked as many English courses as my electives. Thanks to the big change. 

It was in the first semester of my sophomore year when the big change happened. From a state college, PNC transformed into a state university. I didn't feel and witness any educational reform or changes within the university except for a slight increase in tuition and matriculation fees. I remember paying 500 Php for my tuition and matriculation fees during the second semester that year until the scholarship came in junior year. Other than this, it was the individual enlistment ala-UP that was the most memorable.  

We are missing nine classmates here: Andrea Arcilla De Guzman, Helen Aripol Advincula, Galddys Addatu Florendo, Rowena Domingo, Myraflor Mayo Velasquez, Elvira de Luna Regio, Abigail Calinisan, Lourdes Barros and Nelson Immaculata 

I had classes with my co-majors and got mixed with other education majors in my batch. Needless to say, the BSE Library Science majors of my batch remained a tight group and we got to know other education majors in the batch. Class discussions on the GE subjects were more exciting. Major subjects were intense and focused. I had time for curricular activities and college organizations. I had a love life.

What didn't change was the way our LS professors taught us. They were punctual and persevering; patient and committed. Despite budget cuts and limited resources, they tried and strived to give their best. 

Early on we all knew our LS group was a minority. But, we also knew that a job awaited us after graduation. I am proud to say that my batch had two honor students and all fifteen of us have kept jobs to this day.

May nagbago ba?

When six of us met for a mini-reunion, it was just like college. Some things never change. People don't really change. I have not seen my batch mates in years. But when we met last week, time and distance didn't matter. It was like we have seen each other the previous week!

Amabel Sibug is our moral compass. She is based in Jordan, working in the Pontifical Library there, and thanks to social media, she manages to keep in touch. As a Teresiana, we get to be prayed over by her every night. No wonder we all turned up well despite ourselves. Loy Danila, our class cum laude, has been steady and stable all these years. She is working in the records department of one of the top companies in Makati. Malou Banlaygas remains to be a student of life. After years of working in a university library, she is still learning so much about life and love. 

Maji Dizon Dalisay, after her stint as university librarian in one of the top universities in Pampanga decided to become a full time mom. She is raising three lovely daughters and keeping home with her husband. That's a full time job to reckon. The choice of family life is worth it. Mean Jimenez Salvador is now pursuing a PhD and is continuing what her artist husband, Lirio Salvador, has started, a museum and art center in Cavite.

A journey is more meaningful with friends whom you can walk beside with.

As for me, well, here I am. Still telling stories.

Our mini-reunion was punctuated with a trekking expedition to Banal na Bundok, near the foot of Mt. Arayat. I don't know about them, but to me, it was an experience of going full circle. Was it only yesterday when we journeyed together in PNU? What were our battles then? How did college change us? How has life treated us? How did we respond? What are we now? Who are we? Who am I among my peers and friends?

I am proud to have walked with these wonderful people in my younger years. Now that we have achieved a little bit of something for ourselves, not just the job or the degree, but the knowledge that there exists goodness in the universe, I can say that I have never been alone. I have always belonged.

I went home that night feeling so blessed. I have nothing else to give the profession who made me who I am today but myself.

Throwback Thursday: PNULISSA Officers 2001

Can you spot me in this black and white scanned photo?

Love a Librarian: Pinay Librarian in the Land of Auss

Today's Love a Librarian feature is Mrs. Placida Socorro Lim-Limpin. Known to friends and colleagues as Peachy, she is based in Melbourne, Australia working as librarian at a training institute for adult learners. Before Melbourne, she has notable accomplishments in Philippine librarianship. She earned a spot in the Top 10 Licensure Exam for Librarians; was part of the group that organized and founded PNU LISSAA, the alumni association of Library and Information Science students of PNU; wrote a regular article on technology in the Manila Bulletin to mention a few. Peachy has recently been to the country for a paper presentation on cataloging during the 4th Rizal Library International Library and Information Science conference at the Ateneo de Manila University. She may be physically in Australia but the Philippines is in the heart.

For this blog carnival, Peachy preferred to answer all the questions sent to her instead of taking up one and developing it in an essay or reflection. Nonetheless, the result is heartfelt and sincere, like a sister or a dear friend, confiding and sharing life's lessons learned through experience and the living of each meaningful moment.

In response to Zarah’s request, where she sent a list of questions for me to answer, here are some things I don’t mind sharing with you.

What made me stay in the LIS profession and why

I’m a “been there and back again librarian”, having left the confines of a library to teach in an actual classroom and at university at that. But what made me go back to the librarianship was the basic fact that I don’t get to bring home work with me! And that in itself is a great relief.

I tried my hand at writing as well but didn’t want to go full time because it meant long nights and plenty of travels, which I wouldn’t mind if I had no kids to look after. So, yes, the routines of being a librarian, the work that goes with it, and especially the privilege of reading a new book first are my main reasons for staying a librarian.

On the book that changed my life

It’s really nothing profound, but the book that has changed not exactly my life, but my perspective of life is “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki.

Who is my librarian idol and why

I don’t exactly idolize any librarian but I do have a list of librarians I have high regards for but so as not to offend and risk the relationships I have with those NOT on my list, they shall remain nameless but can be shared privately on request. I know, it’s cheeky! J. Buh, humbug!

 Advise to LIS students especially those who are about to graduate

After graduation and on your first job, you’ll realize that much of the things you’ll find out at work you weren’t taught in library school. Sure you’ve done well in school doesn’t mean you’ll do well at work, too. Because the measures by which you were evaluated at school are so much different to the measures you will be evaluated at work. So start learning to build relationships and to keep these relationships because in the long run, these relationships you have built overtime will be the foundations of a rewarding career and a fruitful life.

The Johanna Tacus Interview

Johanna Tacus, PNU alumna and top 7 in the recent board exam for librarians, opens up her heart and mind through this interview. She was PNU LISSAA's first scholar. 

a. What made you decide to take BS LIS in college?

My aunt is the chief librarian in our high school, and when she saw that I was an active member of the Book Lovers’ Club, she suggested that I take LIS, since I love books, and she also explained the many opportunities I can have after graduation. I also felt that this was the path that God wanted me to take, after prayerful consideration of all the courses that I was interested in.

b. Please provide me with a background of your current work.

I am currently unemployed, haha! I have applied at some libraries, and while waiting for their calls, I am volunteering to help put up the library in our church (St. Stephen’s Parish), which is easy to say but hard to do! There are so many books, and the theology ones are hard to catalog. By God’s strength, I hope to finish this soon and open the library to the members.

c. What is the most memorable experience you had in PNU taking up BS LIS?

I’d say it was our classes in cataloging, when we were tasked to make a scrapbook of catalog cards of different kinds of books. My classmates and I were comparing each other’s cards and laughing at how much red ballpen marks we got! Our professor (Prof. Marasigan) was laughing along with us too, but he encouraged us that we would get it after more practice. I remember the time he was teasing my classmate about her margins – sobrang laki ng spacing, puwedeng dumaan ang airplane dito oh!. The class was also sharing (really corny) jokes with him, but times like that are the moments that I enjoyed with my classmates.

d. Who are your librarian heroes? Or for this matter, any professional you idolize and hold with deep respect.

I would say that it’s Andrew Carnegie. I admire him because he became great even though he did not have proper schooling, he just learned by himself through reading books. (That is the kind of results that I want to achieve in our libraries: people becoming knowledgeable through the library collection.) Later on in life, he built up several public libraries and idealized that free libraries should be open to the public.

e. What does it mean for you to pass the licensure exams for LIS professionals and making it to the Top 10?

For me, this is another evidence of the grace of God, because I could not have done it without Him, and also, everyone close to me prayed about it (which I am very thankful for!) The very number which I placed in, 7, is a significant number in the Bible because it indicates wholeness. I am made whole because of God. That is enough for me to believe that this was His doing, and not my efforts. It also reassures me that I am capable, as the verse goes, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)

f. Where do you see yourself specializing in - school, public, academic or corporate, law or medical, research or international librarianship?

I would love to stay in a school library, teaching reading and literacy to the kids. I would like to encourage them to have a habit of reading, show them that it’s fun to read and how important it is to be able to learn a lot through the library. But if not in the school, I would also be interested in medical or research, as it can contribute to all of our well-being if we are more informed and updated.

 g. What book have you read that has made a big mark in your life? A book that challenged your world view or changed your paradigm in life.

One Night with the King by Tommy Tenney. It’s a historical novel of Queen Esther from the Bible, and her life story is about how God has a plan for each of our lives, that He can turn what we call a tragedy into something great.

It is an honor to be included in your blog, thank you so much for this opportunity.

Make Your (Alma) Mater Proud

I lifted this out from Roderick Ramos' email. Roderick is currently the Vice President of the Philippine Normal University Library & Information Science Alumni Association (PNULISAA). It's been visible these days in the circle of library science events and happenings. Thanks to the untiring efforts of Roderick Ramos!

If you're a PNU LS or LIS alumnus, give back some love! Doesn't have to be enormous. A little goes a long way!

Ann is 3rd year 17 year-old LIS student this year. She said that she’s thankful that she can study and truly grateful for this scholarship. “With your help, I will finish college and in turn, help my family too. I promised myself that I will do my best. ”

“I believe in the Association’s noble objectives in realizing my dream to elevate the status and image of the profession by recruiting the best potential librarians imbued with good work values and high ethical standards.” From: PRC BFL Corazon Nera

PILLARS OF THIS YEARS’ SCHOLARSHIP OF PNU-LISAA, Inc.

Cayaban, Celedonia R. (DLSU,CSB)
Estigoy, Consuelo (ELJMC)
Ladlad, Jocelyn (DLSU)
Limpin, Placida Socorro (Australia)
Montejo, Estela (ADMU)
Nera, Corazon (PRC)

Pay Your Membership Now!

TOGETHER WE WILL ACHIEVE MORE! PNU-LISAA, Inc, a caring alumni group, calls on your support to help achieve goals, of providing each and everyone wonderful experiences of professional growth, lifelong learning, camaraderie and fellowship.

GIVE TO PNU-LISAA, INC.

Renew your membership now: fill up an application form, pay only P150.00 to any of our officers and ask for an official receipt, or, send your fees through
Banco de Oro with Savings Account Number 470378972 under the Account Name: Philippine Normal University Library and Information Science Alumni Assn. (PNU-LISAA), Inc. and keep a copy of the deposit slip for the release of the OR.

If you want to share a gift, you can speak and discuss this with our advisers:
Mrs. Evelyn P. Nabus, , and Prof. Ruben P. Marasigan at
302-7717. Thank you for your support.

Forthcoming activity of the Association is a forum with a general assembly in December. For inquiries including membership, e-mail ramospnulisaa@yahoo.com, text @ 09187318010 or leave a message @ 302-7717.

PNU LISAA: Keepers of the Flame*

Good morning!

I stand before you today, humbled to be speaking in behalf of the PNU-LISAA, Inc. Among the many qualified and more respected alumni, the association chose someone like me to represent it in this momentous occasion.

The PNU Library Science Department can boast of so many sons and daughters who are more accomplished than I am. In its 50 years of educating and forming future librarians of the nation, it has produced an armada of alumni who are wiser in years of experience. It can be proud of its recent graduates who are sturdier and more resilient in the face of professional challenges and personal trials. Compared to them, I am merely a beginner who is carving a niche in the ever-changing landscape of library and information science. I did not graduate with honors. Nor did I make it to the top 10 of the Librarians’ Licensure Examination. But here I am, nevertheless, tasked to give an inspirational message. Indeed, to be doing this in front of my former mentors and teachers is an honor. I feel that I am now a colleague. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for this recognition. So I take this great opportunity as a way of giving back to PNU in general and to remember the glory, golden and shinning, of the PNU LIS Department in particular.

By looking back and remembering, we can define the future. After all, the past, the present and the future exist in one plane. To lose the connection between the three would mean a loss of direction.

Allow me now to look back. And, I invite you to do the same. Get a pen and a piece of paper and together, let us chart our past so it can propel us to set directions for the future.

Divide your paper in four columns. Each column represents a year in college – Freshman Year; Sophomore Year; Junior Year; and Senior Year. Write them down.

Now, fold your paper lengthwise. On the first row, write the “highs” that you experienced as a student of LIS in PNU. On the second row, write the “lows” that you encountered as a student of LIS in PNU. Your highs and lows can be about the curriculum, the teachers, the class activities and projects, extra-curricular activities, practicum, support from friends and classmates, etc. Let us work on our paper for five to seven minutes and then we will have small buzz groups.

(After five-seven minutes…)

Turn to a seatmate and share. You can also form a group of three people.

(After five minutes…)

Let us now generalize. Try to go back to your paper. Recall things that struck you in your buzz group. At the back of your paper, write down insights you’ve derived from our short activity.

Can we have one or two brave souls to share his or her insight in the big group?

Volunteer 1 –
Volunteer 2 –

(At this point speaker can share her highs and lows…)

Thank you for your generosity and openness in participating in our little activity this morning. The highs and the lows that you wrote on your piece of paper is a constructed meaning of what the PNU LIS was, is and will be. Some of these experiences maybe delightful, relevant, earth- shaking, painful, frustrating, stressful, elating, humbling and life affirming. Whatever these highs and lows are, it should be enough to move the PNU LIS Department into the next 10 to 50 years.

To channel new directions and to establish new paradigms can not be done by one entity alone. It would take a communal effort to achieve this – support from the university administration, a competent faculty and staff (combination of the young and the seasoned), updated and relevant learning resources, a curriculum that empowers and answers the needs of the learner and his environment, the political will and inner strength to change for the better – these are but some of the ingredients necessary to chart pathways for the PNU LIS Department in the next three or five decades. In the process, there will be discussions, discourse, dialogues and even debates. There are factors both internal and external that will affect the structuring or realigning of things. There will be roadblocks too, for how can we face the realities of change when, as Filipinos, we take things always, on a personal matter. Then again, we are Filipinos, and we will endure.

Like many of you, I hope to see the torch light burning bright as the PNU LIS Department continues to guide aspiring librarians to a promising tomorrow. It does not end with hoping and seeing though. As an alumnus, it is my personal responsibility to carry the torch, ablaze and aflame. PNU LISAA as an alumni organization is a keeper of the flame. We all have a part to play. We all have a contribution to make. We all need tough love and sacrifice to nurture the torch’s fire.

I ask you now, how do you keep the torch’s flame from flickering? How can we all keep the torch’s flame alive?

To end, I would like to sing PNU’s Alma Mater song – I will sing it once, but on the second round, please join me.

Oh Alma Mater ko
Sa Mga Guro’y Ina
Dalay Ilaw
Sadyang Tanglaw
Lagi Kang Patnubay
Ng Bayan Ko Kailan Pa man
Lualhati’y suma iyo
Oh Alma Mater ko

*The above speech was delivered during the 50the anniversary of the PNU LIS Department held last Saturday, February 16, 2008 at the PNU Library.

50 Years of PNU LIS

I deliverd an inspirational message during the 50th year anniversary of the Philippine Normal University Library and Information Science Department last February 16, 2008, Saturday at the PNU Library. Madame Cora Nera of the BFL graced the occassion. Mrs. Elnora Conti was awarded Outstanding Alumni while Peachy Limpin, who is based in Australia, was recognized as being the first PNU alumnus to make it to the Top 10 of the Licensure Exam for Librarians.

Here are some pictures from the said event. As usual, I have no photo because I was busy taking pictures using my cell phone. I will post my speech soon.

The Living Library* (1 of 2)

*A lecture delivered during the conference on books, libraries and reading promotion by the PNU University Library and the National Book Development Board last April 21, 2007, Friday.

Let me begin by quoting the famed library guru, Dr. Ranganathan.

“The library is a growing organism.”

He said these immortal words decades ago, but it remains to be one powerful, if not, popular mantra in the field of library and information science. I do not know about you, but to me, it encapsulates the very essence of our crucial role in fostering a reading culture and in building a nation of readers. Whether we are librarians from the academe or from the school; the public library or the special library, we have a responsibility to firm up the cornerstone of knowledge and the creation and communication of information. It is our primary duty to make our clients READ. Therefore, it is our job to make our libraries attractive and interesting to clients so that they can read the many resources we offer them.

By reading, I mean a lot of things. Reading is the utility of references, print and online; it is the searching done in a database, OPAC or the manual catalog; it is the excitement of a grade school student when he borrows his first book; it is the delight of a preschooler upon hearing stories read aloud during storytime; it is the discovery of new facts and information by a high school student; it is the expansion of world views and perspectives one encounters with literature; the reconstruction and accommodation of new knowledge by a college student in research; it is the critical analysis of messages brought by print, broadcast and technological media; it is the application and the integration of concepts, skills, values and technology of the varied resources that empower a professional.

Reading is synonymous to learning. It takes place not only in the four walls of the classroom or in the corporate conference hall but in the library as well. Reading is connecting with one’s self and reaching out to the world. The library can afford that to a person.

It is our contribution to the community and the society at large to nurture and nourish our clients by providing a library that lives. Dr. Ranganathan may have spoken of the library as an entity that is alive, but without the professional expertise of a librarian, do you think the library would ever grow? Do you think reading, and its many facets and definitions to different kinds of learners would ever occur? It will only remain a building with books, shelves and technological watchamacallits. The challenge now lies at how we can breathe life to our library programs and services so that we can bridge the gap between the collection and resources we manage to the people that we serve. We have to start with a recollection of who we are as professionals in the community where we belong and partake. We need to look at how we do our work in the library in the light of new demands and trends brought by changing environments and client culture. And then, we act. Roll up those sleeves and let’s get down to business.

Image & Identity : Who are we? What is our role? How do we portray our role?
It is already the age of information technology. It is an exciting and challenging time to be a librarian today. With the advent of technology, we can use them to spear head projects in our library; empower our services; enhance our programs to attain goals and impact the lives of those we serve. However, while our training in library school prepared us for the real world, we suffer an image problem. We are still perceived as docile and boring, strict or timid. This can only happen, when we accept that perception as our professional identity.

Of course, most of us have disagreed to this stereotype. We have continuously asserted the relevant role we play locally and globally. The efforts of the BFL to resuscitate the continuing professional education guidelines for librarians and the PLAI’s move to reorganization are indicators that we are adapting and changing with the times.

On the micro level, how do you fare? In your own community, how are you perceived? What is your perception of yourself? Tough questions? Let’s go to the different school’s of thought in library and information science.

The first school of thought dwells on the belief that the library is an information center where users and clients can access different learning resources. The librarian does the selection, acquisition, organization and circulation of these resources to clients. The librarian provides reports and feedback relevant issues and concerns pertaining to library work to the administration.

The second school of thought adheres to the philosophy that the library exists to help its mother organization achieve and accomplish its vision, mission and goals. The librarian collaborates with teachers and administrative staff for the development of the library’s collection. The librarian engages himself in the behavior of his clients to determine their information needs. The librarian gathers evidence from the practice of the profession and makes use of this evidence to further improve services and programs.

Which of these schools of thought do you subscribe to?

There really is no right or wrong school of thought. In fact, you can even combine the best of either schools of thought according to given situations or parameters set by your environment. But, whichever school of thought you chose determines your professional image and identity. It has a bearing on how we do service and run programs. It has an effect on how alive we want our library to be.