Munting Akltang Barangay: Basic Library System & Maintenance Training

Library Organisation 101 for Non-Librarians and Library Advocates

A few months ago, a friend invited me to meet with her staff. She runs a respected private company in the local book industry, and over the years their book collection has grown into a valuable body of work. It has become a resource not only for their staff but also for researchers outside the company. Because of this, they began thinking seriously about organizing the collection. In other words, they realized what they truly needed: a library—and a librarian. Finding a registered librarian, however, has proven to be a significant challenge.

The consultative meeting I had with the team turned out to be both lively and productive. The staff, a mix of Millennials and Gen Zs, were eager to understand what it means to build and sustain a library in the traditional brick-and-mortar sense. We talked about purpose, systems, and the practical realities of organizing and maintaining a working collection.

To support their next steps, I put together a workflow they can use as a reference as they begin this process. I’m sharing it here on the blog as well, in the hope that it might help others who find themselves in a similar situation—organizations with growing collections that are ready to become libraries.

Phase 1 - Goal Setting

1.    Why are you setting up a library?

2.    What is the purpose of the library?

3.    What do you wish to achieve in a year?

4.    What resources (time, money, staff) do you need to achieve this?

5.    Determine criteria for selecting and acquiring books, documents and resources to put in the library.

6.    Who will use the library in the next 2-3 years?

7.    How do you see the library growing five years from now?

Answers to these questions need to be written down because it will serve as a guide when you begin organizing your library’s collection and holdings. Sometime in the future, it will be valuable in your library manual, handbook or brochure.

Follow administrative protocols and coordinate with department units when the guide and the goal of the library are written down. Seek approval of admin and the head of the department.

Phase 2  - Acquisition Registry, Classification and Cataloging

1.    Assign each book, document and resource an accession number that is alphanumeric and unique to the material. Example: AL0001 

2.    Stick or put the accession number on the book, resource or document. Choose a special page number, at the copyright page and at the back. Barcoded accession number is ideal, but if the tech is not available, manual will do.

3.    Enter the bibliographic data of the book, document, resource in the catalog. This may be a manual or digital cataloging system.

4.    Assign a location mark - this is usually the classification or subject code like the Dewey Decimal or Library of Congress. But you can devise your own subject and classification scheme.

5.    Cover the book, secure documents and resources (put them in folders, envelopes, clearbooks)

6.    Place the book, documents and resources on the shelf

For your shelving concerns, you can devise your own. For your cataloging and classification issues, yes, you can also create your own. You need not follow the Dewey Decimal System nor the Library of Congress, especially if there is no librarian hired by the school, organization or company.

The important thing is, the accession number/Barcode, location mark and bibliographic data are consistently recorded.

Basic principles of library organization: ACCURATE. UNIFORM. CONSISTENT.

Phase 3 - Communications and Circulation Services, Inventory Process

1.    Announce new acquisitions and inclusions to the library collection to the community.

2.    Include simple and practical ways to inform the community ways to access the books and library resources.

3.    Do inventory twice a year. Use the acquisition registry as main record for inventory.

4.    Mark the status of the book or resource as: missing, lost, accounted for. Inventory is done manually.

5.    Write and submit an inventory report. Information on the inventory report will help you assess and evaluate your library’s systems, workflows and processes.

 

This is not the first time I helped a community organize a library. Below are links to previous post where I had interactions with non-librarians in setting up a library and a paper I wrote about school library organization.

A School Library Grows in Sta. Cruz Laguna

The Living Library 1 of 2

The Living Library 2 of 2

Librarians as Community Developers

I started a read aloud demo.

Last week, I was a witness to the important role librarians and libraries play in building community. The story begins like this.

In March 2017, DepEd Cabuyao Superintendent Jonathan Forelo Bernabe wrote a letter to the Philippine Librarians Association Inc., (PLAI) requesting for a workshop on library development. The letter reached PLAI President Mike Pinto in mid-April. Mr. Pinto, through PLAI Secretariat, got in touch with DepEd Cabuyao with a recommendation to contact Mr. Rene Manlangit, current regional representative of PLAI Southern Tagalog Region Librarians Council. These two gentlemen, once they established linkage, immediately worked together to set up a three day training workshop for teachers on school library development.

DepEd Cabuyao took charge of all logistics, operational costs, DepEd requirements and the mandate of having 91 K-12 teachers and principals present in the workshop. PLAI STRLC made sure to create and design a training workshop on school library development 101. When Mr. Manlangit got in touch with me on this endeavor, it was too difficult to turn down.

I remember what I wrote in the blog about librarians and libraries building communities of learners and readers back in 2015 :

For librarians who are helping teachers, community developers and people in Non-government organizations set up libraries, remember to begin with the knowledge of the community and their experience of libraries. We are creating learning spaces and avenues of thinking. The books and formats of information we organize must be contextualized to a philosophy and a culture. That culture and philosophy is in part found in the community to which the library belongs to.

My participation in the 3-day workshop was to conduct a four hour storytelling workshop with the participants. But, I included activities in my workshop that would help teachers look at the bigger role of libraries as community centers where learning and thinking takes place.

Sharing time: I like listening to insights of teachers.

I reflect on this experience and if I get involved in another workshop like this, I will:

a. Consider, first and foremost, the context of the K-12 teachers as builders of knowledge through by facilitating critical and creative thinking skills activities;

b. Apply differentiated activities for participants, especially for K-12 teachers as they are teaching learners from different stages of development;

c. Conduct more reading into writing activities that focus on the creation and communication of knowledge and ideas;

d. Use local knowledge and history as resources for workshop activities.

And so, I pray for good health and a kind and forgiving heart. I feel I have so much more to do for others. I know I will get by with a little help from my friends.

A New School Library Grows in Sta. Cruz Laguna

Look at these photos:

This is the new school library of the Laguna Sino-Filipino Educational Foundation. The school library was set up by Ms. Yasmin Ong, Language Teacher and the designated Library Coordinator. She is not a librarian. But, she loves books and she is an avid reader. Yes, my dear librarian friends, we are not the only ones who can set up and organize libraries.

Nope. This is not an April Fools' Day joke.

When Ms. Ong was introduced to me via Facebok by a common friend, she and I started a three month long conversation on setting up and organizing a school library. This all happened in Facebook! Last March, she sent me these pictures of the library. How lovely!

Our initial "convo" was about the Dewey Decimal Classification. We librarians learned the DDC in university for one semester. So what I did was to explain the concepts of library organization to Ms. Ong in the most practical and simplest of ways. Uniformity, Accuracy and Reliability are key concepts "to live by" when organizing a library collection. The rest, procedures and structures, will follow. I also recommended her some reading materials like the IFLA-UNESCO Manifesto and School Library guidelines. Since Ms. Ong is a teacher, I encouraged her to work with her students when dividing and organizing the books by genre: FICTION and NON-FICTION. It is in fact ideal if students can be given a role in helping set up a system of organization since they are the immediate beneficiaries of the library. Teachers can take part too, as they are involved in teaching and learning. The library is a place where learning and teaching are nurtured and developed. Much of library development is anchored to its community's context and culture.

For librarians who are helping teachers, community developers and people in Non-government organizations set up libraries, remember to begin with the knowledge of the community and their experience of libraries. We are creating learning spaces and avenues of thinking. The books and formats of information we organize must be contextualized to a philosophy and a culture. That culture and philosophy is in part found in the community to which the library belongs to.

This is going to be a running post so do watch out for more tips on library set up and helping library advocates organize reading centers and libraries.