This month's Filipino Librarian is Darrel Marco, school librarian at Xavier School Nuvali. He has been a school librarian for four years and enjoys every minute of working in the school library environment. Mr. Marco is a BS LIS graduate from UP Diliman. He has presented papers on school librarianship in local and international conferences.
a. What's your lib story? Describe how you made the choice of
majoring in LIS and what was college life like for you as a LIS major.
You can cite challenging stories and success stories while studying the
course.
LIS was never really my first choice. I really
wanted to be in a course where there’s moolah after graduation (really
really wanted to shift out of LIS to BA or Econ). But because of a
relative abroad, less exposure to courses other than engineering,
medicine or law, and as an obedient son, I selected LIS as one of my
preferred courses for college. Little did I know that I would eventually
love LIS not just as a course but as a profession.
One
of the main reasons why I stayed in LIS was my involvement in UP FLIPP
(Future Library & Information Professionals of the Philippines). I
applied as a member of the organization during my Freshmen year, second
semester.
During my college days, especially in my General Education subjects, the usual scenario would be:
Classmate: Hey!
Me: Hi!
Classmate:
What’s your course? (based from my experience, my classmates would
usually be asking for your course without even asking for your name.
haha!)
Me: LIS
Classmate: What’s that?
Me: Library and Information Science
Classmate: So, you love reading books?
Me: Meh @.@
After
all the application process, friendships built, values formed, goals
set, challenges won – I realized that it was not just me who had that
kind of experience; that I was not the only one who’s typecasted as a
bookworm because I was an LIS major and that I was not alone in the
battle of upholding our course.
The greatest challenge
really for me was to explain the “unexplainable”, especially to my
relatives. I really found it hard to make them think outside of the box
that not because I was a LIS major, I would definitely end up as a
solitary-all-the-time-reading-creature-while-stamping-books-and-hushing-noisy-people.
In short, with condescending tone, “Ano yun??! Librarian?” But all
those perceptions changed when I became a member of our student council,
where my LIS identity was reinforced, and eventually graduated with
flying colors (PINK and FUCHSIA!).
Studying the course
was not really a walk in the park and if one has determination and
willingness to learn theories in librarianship and eventually, put them
into practice, LIS would be a fun course to take.
If you
love providing information to other people (most of my students find
this impressive since I can answer most of their questions), or,
describing and classifying books and other resources (this works
especially for the OC-OC in me),or, you simply want to make a difference
in a person’s life since library science is a service-oriented
profession, then choose to be a librarian.
b. What has
been the greatest challenge you've faced so far as a licensed and
working librarian? Why do you say it's a challenge?
I work as a school librarian.
School librarians are also teacher-librarians.
So,
while I function as a librarian doing the technical stuff such as
cataloguing and classification, doing reference services, designing
library bulletin boards and current awareness services, delivering
resources to my users who are usually teachers and students, I also
function as a teacher. AND IT IS NOT EASY. [Emphasis]. There will be
preparations of lesson plans, curriculum planning, [almost] sleepless
nights because of preparations of presentations, lesson proper,
classroom management, behaviour and discipline plans, and I must admit, I
was never prepared for them during my first years. It was only through
constant exposure, experience and practice that I was able to acquire
those skills [Emphasis … AGAIN].
I guess there was a
lapse in teaching those necessary skills since when one graduates as an
LIS major, s/he will not simply be a librarian, and that there are many
different types of libraries that an LIS graduate can choose to work in.
During my college years, I never really thought of being a school
librarian, it was only after graduation when I saw that opportunity and
grabbed it, and I never regretted it even once. What I really want now
is for school librarianship to be recognized as a discipline, wherein
librarians function not only as librarians but they are also EXPECTED to
have skills and functions of a teacher.
c. What is your area of expertise in LIS?
Uhmmm…
As I have mentioned above, as a teacher-librarian, one needs not only
the “technical” skills of being a librarian but at the same time, the
skills of a teacher. Furthermore, I believe that the LIS field is a very
practical field, where one learns and encounters problems and tries to
solve those problems through practice, practice and practice. A
librarian cannot simply live in a paradigm of dogmatic theories.
Theories are best tested when put into practice.
To
answer the question (haha!), I can humbly say that I am starting to work
on teacher-librarians’ roles in the promotion of having an information
literate society i.e. integration of teaching pedagogies, technology,
and IL skills (which I believe librarians should have) and their
application in real life.
d. What do you think are the requirements and preparations necessary for becoming a LIS professional?
As
frontliners in an information society, I believe LIS professionals
should continue to be adaptive to changes. Information come and go. They
continue to add up and bloom and soon, there will be an information
boom. LIS professionals need not only acquire and provide information
for themselves and for their users but they also need to be critical of
the information that they receive and disseminate. Information literacy
skills are the vital skills that LIS professionals need to have
nowadays. Since we deal heavily with information and its dissemination,
we need to know how to evaluate them, synthesize them and eventually
share them for the common good.
MOST IMPORTANT : A librarian MUST be a READER.
READ. Not just to enhance your technical skills as a librarian.
READ. Not just to be up-to-date. but also
READ. for leisure and entertainment.
READ. to know which materials to recommend to your users, and
READ and enjoy!
e. What rewards have you reaped from being a LIS professional?
I was able to travel to Europe and represent our country!
I was able to share my experiences to students of LIS
I was able to meet new friends in the LIS field and other related fields.
Good books!!! (YA novels and children’s books, who’d say no to them?)
Hugs, hellos, and smiles from my students. Nothing beats that!
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