Day 1 of the MUNPARLAS Bibliocare Sagada Conference

There was no Internet connectivity in Sagada the three days we were there. It was impossible for me to blog and live blog events as they unfold. Good thing there's mobile technology and it has allowed me to post status updates on our trips, tours and ongoing sessions with the speakers. So, I begin Day 1 of the conference and the tours we did in between.

MUNPARLAS rented a chartered bus for the trip going to Sagada. The bus left Manila at nearly 10PM and we were in Baguio at 3AM. Another chartered bus waited for us at Dangwa Station while we got coffee and some light snacks. The route we took was the Benguet - Mt. Province side and not the Bontoc-Banaue route. The Benguet-Mt. Province is the safer route according to Eric Ramos, MUNPARLAS Officer and tour coordinator, who has experience travelling from Manila to Sagada and vice versa. We had only one stop over and it afforded us to take pictures of the mountain side and the beautiful sunrise. The air was cool, but the sun shining above the mountains warmed our bones. A promise of good things to come!

When we arrived in Sagada at 9AM, it was the same place I remembered it to be. Well, except for a few changes like the Chico River looking small and dredge out; Masferre restaurant has upgraded their deli shop and a piano is in place in one corner of the restaurant (I should really bring my family up in Sagada, one of these summers); the old bell in front of the Episcopalian Church is now fenced in; the Municipal Hall has an ATM machine; and souvenir shops increased in number in the Poblacion. Apart from these, Sagada is the Sagada I fell in love with in 2010.

Photo courtesy of Darrel Marco, 2014

After getting a room in St. Joseph's Resthouse, we had an hour of rest and from there, the adventure began!

First timers took the path to Sumaguing Cave while second timers rode the jeep top load style. It was like a roller coaster ride! When the participants emerged out of the cave, one of them, Darrel Marco of Xavier School Nuvali told us, "Now I know why you didn't go caving for the second time, Ms. Z!" While it was a life affirming experience the first time I went down to Sumaguing, I will not repeat the same experience again. To finish off the tour, we visited the Potter's Place and Lake Danum.

That night, Dr. Luis Gatmaitan arrived and we headed out to the Yougurt House for Dinner. It was my first time there. The place is quaint and comfortable. The food serving is generous and the company of friends is warm and welcoming. At 10PM, it was lights off for all of us. We were all anxious for Day 1 of the conference.

Day 1 began with a welcome message from Coun. Edward Umamin who shared his dreams of seeing a library set up in Sagada. He brushed on some problems with tourism, but emphasized that Sagada will always welcome librarians for the municipality is very much in need of community development and cultural workers. This made me think of the kind of tourism we do in the country. There should be more of the tours and trips offered by local tourism offices. A cultural experience of the place must be in the tourism program as well. And yes, libraries are needed to do this tourism service.

MUNPARLAS gave books to Coun. Umamin as donated by Marlene Aguilar. From there, input sessions started with Joseph Yap of DLSU Taft as the first speaker.

Coun. Edward Umamin was happy to receive book donations
from MUNPARALS President, Ann Grace Bansig and VP Marivic Silencio

Mr. Yap presented possibilities of developing an online developmental bibliotherapy list or bibliography. He showed samples from foreign models. Surely, we need a Philippine counterpart as this will promote not just the books, but the content of our culture, identity and heritage. He devised an online submission form of bibliographic data on books and resources applicable for developmental bibliotherapy.

Next to speak was Mr. Jay Diola, librarian of DLS Zobel. He discussed concepts and theories that justify a developmental bibliotherapy program in the 21st century environment. I like his presentation on the digital natives and the digital migrants and how libraries and librarians can reach out to them.

At my session, participants do a bibliotherapy group session

After his talk, I was next. In my session, I started with the concept on Reading as an interactive process and that readers are capable of responding to reading. I followed it with a bibliotherapy session using a poem, Pied Beauty, by Gerard Manly Hopkins as translated into Filipino by Fr. Bert Alejo SJ and ended it with Katy Perry's Fireworks. (Yes, what a combination!). I finished my session with UNESCO's Life Skills as the basis for a bibliotherapy program. So there. Bibliotherapy can be seen as a process as well as a program.

The last speaker was Dr. Luis Gatmaitan who gave a thorough explanation of the theories behind bibliotherapy by merging his practice of medicine with his exemplary writing accomplishments. He showed how his books are bibliotherapuetic in nature and how, as librarians, we can develop a collection that will heal the mind, the body and the soul.

That's Day 1 of the Bibliocare Sagada conference. Day 2 will be posted tomorrow.

Eden and Veverly, librarians from Iloilo and early registrants.
I gave them a copy of my book as early birds in the conference.

Sagada For the Second Time Around

I'll be up in Sagada from April 24-25, 2014 for the MUNPARLAS Bibliocare Conference. I am honored to be in the roster of respected speakers on books, reading and bibliotherapy. Preparing for the conference has been an exciting journey as I have new methods and practices to share with the participants. Part of my workshop is an echo of the 42nd IASL Conference in Bali where in I'll be talking about life skills and how school libraries can set up programs that foster it. I'll also present my insights on the workshops I attended in the Bali Conference. Hopefully, this will elicit discussions that will spark ideas among librarians present there tomorrow.

For sentimental reasons, I am thrilled to be going up Sagada again. My first time there was with Dianne de Las Casas last May 2010. It was when we started working on our book project, Tales From the 7,000 Isles. 

Look back with me by clicking these links:

Sagada Day 1 - First impressions are lasting

Sumag-ing Cave - One of the many life changing adventures I've had so far.

Fidelisan Rice Terraces and Bumod-ok Falls - This trek was like a trip to Middle Earth!

I'll be blogging from Sagada so keep visiting the blog for news and updates.

Bibliotherapy Service in the School Library

One delightful discovery I had in my recent PAASCU visit to San Beda College's Integrated Basic Education Library was the Bibliotherapy Services that the school librarians conduct for their high school students. The service is part of the formation program of the Office of the Student Services that include the Guidance department and the Formation and Spirituality team. The Bibliotherapy Service was started out by Mr. Richard Sarmiento who attended my workshop on BiblioCare in Sagada in 2014. The workshop was part of the summer conference which the MUNPARLAS Librarians Association organised for its member libraries and other interested librarians from all over the Philippines.

Though Mr. Sarmiento has left San Beda, the school librarians in the high school level continue on with the service, coordinating with the formation and guidance departments. While the basic foundations of the Bibliotherapy process is kept in practice by the librarians, there are new additions to the procedure that make it a "Bedan" program. This only goes to show that innovation and creativity are actualised through collaborative work and community effort.

Having witnessed the Bibliotherapy Service as a viable strategy to help young adult learners reflect on their actions and realise their potentials for growth, I surge to revisit my existing works and writings on Bibliotherapy surfaced. Here are links of my Bibliotherapy materials and resources I have developed over the years.

Interviews on Bibliotherapy

Interview by Librarian Kevin  - Bibliotherapy 101 for school librarians

Special Education and Bibliotherapy Part 1 (2016)
Special Education and Bibliotherapy Part 2 (2016)
Special Education and Bibliotherapy Part 3 (2016)

Bibliotherapy on LibRadio and a Philippine Based Research on Bibliotherapy (2014)

For the record, it was the Philippine Association of Academic and Research Librarians (PAARL) who first dared and put their stake to have me as speaker and workshop facilitator on Bibliotherapy. This was back in 2010. The presentation slides I used can be accessed via my SlideShare Page. A year after, PAARL invited me again to broaden the coverage of Bibliotherapy as a readers' services program. The half-day workshop became a modular training on library prescription shop and bibliotherapy services for a whole day's session.

From then on until today, I had been conducting workshops on Bibliotherapy.

I facilitated a two workshops on  Bibliotherapy at the Gurong Kaakbay Conference (2011 and 2012), the PASLI Summer Conference in Baguio City (2011), the IASL Annual Conference in Bali, Indonesia (2013), BiblioCare Workshop in Sagada (2014), and the Quezon City Public Library Bibliotherapy Workshop (2016)

Materials and resources on Bibliotherapy in the school setting

PowerPoint Slides on Bibliotherapy (Stories and Storytelling for Growth and Healing)
Worksheets on Bibliotherapy (Handouts and worksheets)
Adamson University Library's Start Up Bibliotherapy Collection (Collection Development)
The Reading Passport as Bibliotherapy Tool (Reading into Writing)
Bibliotherapy for Out of School Youths (Young Adult Library Services)

There are plenty more write ups in the blog's archive. I have only selected the more important ones. If anything, the experience at San Beda College in Alabang has inspired me to reactivate this service beyond collection development in my library. Who knows, a new academic paper or even a program may come out from this rumination and reflection.

Day 2 of the MUNPARLAS Bibliocare Sagada Conference

If Day 1 was pretty exciting, Day 2 was even more because of two things: Jaime Bautista and Bomodok Falls.

Darrel Marco was host for the day and he kicked off day 2 with an "endearing" activity for everyone. As it was the second day of the conference, almost everyone knows each other by name and affiliation. So, Darrel used this situation to deepen the experience and develop stronger friendship among participants, speakers and MUNPARLAS Officers. Each of us had a paper taped on our backs. We wrote positive impressions on the paper round robin style. It was affirming to read the wonderful words of appreciation, gratitude and affirmation. What a great way to start the conference!

Apparently, MUNPARLAS President Ann Grace Bansig opened the conference on Day 2 with the topic on Endearing Library Services to the Public. As an example of an endearing library service, she presented the Book Mobile Project of De La Salle Zobel. Now on its 5th year, the project has been a success because of collaborative planning with DLSZ's Outreach Department. By partnering with The Fernando Zobel Foundation, DLSZ librarians and its social action staff, are able to deliver books and literacy services to public school students in Cavite and Batangas provinces.

After her session, Jaime Bautista, comic book writer and publisher came next. HE. IS. AMAZING! He opened his session with a read aloud of book 1 of Private Iris, complete with voice projection and facial expressions. This Xaverian loves his work indeed that it no longer seems to look like work for him! He explained how comics and its creation can lend to Bibliotherapy. As an art form, comic touches on the feelings and the senses of young readers and this experience provide for an avenue of mirroring and self expression. When Mr. Bautista started drawing and telling at the same time, I was floored! I asked for his drawing, his autograph and a note for my daughter from him as she is a fan of Private Iris.

How lucky were the participants to meet him! He is now booked for school visits till 2015!

I was next after the comic book session. I continued what I started out in Day 1 and presented a variety of strategies and programs on Developmental Bibliotherapy for kids and teens. After lunch, Dr. Luis Gatmaitan presented bibliotherapy activities for adults and older readers. Being the last speaker, he gave out certificates to the participants along side the MUNPARLAS President and Vice President.

We did end early on the second day. Bomodok Falls was waiting for us!

Filipino Librarians for the Month of April: The Officers of MUNPARLAS Library Association

The two day conference of MUNPARLAS on Bibliocare and Developmental Bibliotherapy in Sagada, Mt. Province last April 24-25, 2014 was a breakthrough indeed!

For the officers of MUNPARLAS, it was their first time to conduct a national conference far from the comforts of Ayala Alabang, Muntinlupa. What a daring thing to do for a local librarians organization! But big dreams produce big results. More than the financial results, MUNPARLAS reaped their investments in terms of professional and personal growth as well as endearing friendships gained through the whole experience.

MUNPARLAS Officers pose with speakers and guest. Strike a pose! Pout!
(L-R) Marilen Angeles, Jovy Egalin, Sharleen Santos, Ani Vidal, Marivic Silencio, Zarah Gagatiga
Dr. Luis Gatmaitan, Ann Grace Bansig, Richard Nollen, Eric Ramos

I admire this group of young and seasoned librarians because, they may be small in number but, their dedication to grow professionally is enormous. They are building learning communities in their schools as well as in society at large. For the past three years, MUNPARLAS has been conducting literacy related topics that librarians can use to design programs for their learners in the school and the academe. By going out of the Muntinlupa, Paranaque and Las Pinas area, they have started to reach out to the bigger community. MUNPARLAS was able to get participants from Iloilo, Leyte, Tarlac, Pangasinan, Legazpi, Naga and Cavite.

Congratulations, MUNPARLAS! Congratulations Filipino Librarians! May this be a start of bigger things to come!

Private Iris is on YouTube!

A few weeks back, a friend tagged me in a post by Jamie Bautista in Facebook. Jaime is a common friend in the publishing industry, having written and produced several comic and graphic novels for kids and kids at heart. Back in 2014, we were together in the the MUNPARLAS Bibliocare Conference in Sagada. It was my first time to meet Jaime, but I have heard and read about his works, especially Private Iris.

My kids love Private Iris.

In his Facebook post, Jaime shares the process and the journey of creating Private Iris. He fought for his ideas, especially the character being a girl. His efforts and persistence paid off. Private Iris had a good run of twelve volumes. Now, it's an animated short film. It can be seen and watched on YouTube. Here is episode one from the Private Iris channel.