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PeachyLimpin

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PeachyLimpin

2018-07-17T18:02:00.000+08:00

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Peachy

Filipino librarians, advocacy and community involvement

2014-09-11T11:59:00.004+08:00

These are the sort of things that would make me go back to doing this.

I had this quick chat with a good friend over on FB on another matter and our conversation digressed to how very few librarians are advocating for certain ideals, literacy for one, and as with conversations like this, one thing led to another.

And then I thought, there is definitely no shortage of training opportunities for Filipino librarians to enrich their skills and so I wonder why they shirk away from engaging in the larger community. I won't even go into that because certainly there would be excuses, ranging from the personal to the professional, reasons for not engaging. Sabi nga kung gusto may paraan, kung ayaw may dahilan.

But the reality is a lot of things in this world will go undone without volunteers, without advocates, without people engaging with the community for free. Personally, I don't have to look far because within the community we belong to, if we didn't give our time to the local sporting clubs, then there would be no clubs in the first place. If we didn't go out of our way to support migrants and international students, then they'd find it difficult to adjust to life here.

And the same goes for librarianship. Long have we moaned about how Philippine society in general has looked down on our profession and how we are struggling to uplift our image and yet failed to look at the things we have done for the profession over time.

I have been away from the Philippines for 8 years and yet I see the same names of colleagues I have worked with years ago still going at it serving the profession even past their retirement. And I can also "hear" the distant moaning and groaning of the faceless others who under their breath mumble, "sila na naman!". They're not getting any younger you know, count me in on that, and someone has to pick up the slack they will be leaving.

Kung hindi kayo, sino? Kung hindi ngayon, kailan?

Look at engaging with the professional community and joining advocacy groups as a way of giving back and saying thank you to the librarians who came before you. Because if it weren't for their active involvement, you wouldn't be reaping the benefits of what they have planted.

Think Twice on the Master's Degree

2012-06-20T11:10:00.000+08:00

Forbes just published a list of the top 10 best and worst master's degrees for jobs.

And the number one worst master's degree is (drumroll please) you guessed it - Library and Information Science.

This doesn't really come as a surprise now given the global state of libraries are continuing to decline due to budget cuts and these affects all library sectors. And usually, the first to go when budgets are tight are the personnel.

Though it might seem that librarianship is no longer a lucrative career, the skills one learns in library and information science school is transferable to other disciplines.

So go ahead and consider pursuing another discipline and believe me you'll be glad you did. It definitely broadens your perspective and bring out skills you didn't know you had in you.

I did it twice.

These books are worth eating

2012-05-24T14:48:00.001+08:00

It's Library and Information Week here and this year's theme is "Think Outside the Book". To celebrate this week, we held an edible book competition.

My personal favorite was "Marley and Me".

But "Jack and the Beanstalk" was simply awesome!

Check out the rest of the competition here and see that they truly were worth eating. Though it broke my heart to see "Marley" cut up.

On Reading, DRM, and Ebook Readers

2012-02-10T11:13:00.001+08:00

I've recently attended a couple of sessions at VALA 2012 and there were plenty of discussions surrounding the growth of ebook collection and use in libraries across the country. And I personally think that the main issue is that of access.

I couldn't agree more with Joe Wilkert for calling to move for a unified ebook format and an end to DRM. Librarians have been advocating for this for years. From a personal and professional point of view, proprietary ebook software and DRM only serve the pockets of publishers and manufacturers. I am always for freedom of choice and Kindle and its ilk deprives me of that.

However, non-proprietary ebook readers like tablets and non-DRM ebook readers pose a different set of issues all together. Joe mentioned in his article about using different apps for different formats. Since I'm not such a great app fan, I only have Stanza and Good Reader on my iPhone which serves my purpose but there are more apps out there. Then there's the various platforms ebook suppliers and publishers use that complicate matters further. Again, it has to do with access.

I also have this Laser Ebook EB101 which is a disappointment really as it falls short of what it claims it can do. I can't even begin to write about its shortcomings as there are plenty short of saying it was a complete waste of money.

These drive home the point that there is plenty of room for ebook publishers to do right by us, the consumers, and make access simpler. Or easier.

Free education anyone?

2012-01-24T07:50:00.002+08:00

An article from PC Mag lists 10 Excellent, Free Online Education Resources.

There's no doubt the web is a great source of free information but knowing that there are institutions offering free education online is simply astounding! I've enrolled in a few online courses myself and they didn't come cheap.

And having known what these sites offer, it would be a great loss for people who come across these sites not to avail of what's on offer. I myself have signed up for Code Year and bookmarked W3Schools.

I've been viewing TED for a while and they've got excellent videos that are very educational and inspiring.

I'll have a closer look at MIT's OpenCoursewareProgram as well as the University of the People, which offers free, yes free, tuition fee. But conditions apply of course.

Of course, there's iTunes U which is of course accessible via iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch. Then there's Peer to Peer University, which is a collaborative effort of volunteers. Ivy-league institutions also have Academic Earth, which I will be exploring later.

Grade school and high school students and teachers don't miss out on free resources. There's Khan Academy and there's CK-12 a collection of text books.

So what are you waiting for?

Google's Internet Safety Campaign

2012-01-20T06:11:00.000+08:00

Google's recently launched Internet safety campaign is long overdue but better late than never.

It's a one-stop-site that brings together tips on online safety from malware that can harm your devices to protecting one's online identity. It also includes info on data management. I especially find the jargon busters very helpful.

Please help spread the site. It's a definite must-read for all.

Summing up Fair Use

2012-01-09T08:26:00.000+08:00

In our training classes on research for higher education students, we were brainstorming on how best to explain "Fair Use" in relation to copyright and plagiarism.

It can't get any simpler than this: Seth's Blog: Simple thoughts about fair use.

Just AWESOME!

2012-01-06T12:34:00.001+08:00

What to do with old books

2012-01-06T07:45:00.003+08:00

We're currently weeding our entire collection not so much as to make room for new books but to significantly decrease the collection so there would be extra space to build study areas.

It was quite timely coming across this article on giving books second lives. It pains me to throw away old books so maybe I can get around and make a project one of these days.

Si James Soriano at si Gabby

2011-09-06T10:36:00.002+08:00

After reading James' essay and having my say here, I couldn't help but compare him with my youngest son Gabby.

Like James, whose first language supposedly is Filipino but who was brought up with and exposed to the English language, in reverse we are teaching Gabby, whose first language is English, to learn the Filipino language. We make a conscious effort to teach him Filipino because he has to appreciate his roots and ethnicity when he grows up eventually. I'm proud to say that my two older boys, who are now in their teens, are still fluent in Tagalog because it's the language we speak at home. Oh yes, my boys are more the exception than the rule hereabouts. And that's another story I'd rather not tell. To prove my point, they still yell "Aray!" when they're in pain and when they're upset with each other, they exchange tirades in Tagalog. Always worth a smile.

Although I wouldn't expect Gabby to be as fluent as we are in Filipino (because he's obviously got the twang already), we are delighted and proud with the small achievements he makes in communicating with us in Tagalog. I can perfectly converse with him in Tagalog and though he'll answer me back in English. I'm not bothered at all because somewhere inside his brain, neurons are zapping like crazy building his bilingual vocabulary.

At the end of the day, it's all for practical purposes that we're teaching him Filipino because he needs to understand what's going on around him and to know what we are saying when we're upset with him!

Subukan nyo kayang magalit sa Ingles tingnan ko lang kung masabi nyo ang gusto nyong sabihin. Sabi nga ng asawa ko, pagbali-baliktarin man ang mundo, kayumanngi pa rin kulay ng balat namin.

And if James can do this, I take my hats off to him.

James Soriano and his mother language

2011-09-06T10:07:00.001+08:00

Poor thing. My thoughts are with James Soriano and how he must be feeling now with all the flak he's gotten and still getting with his essay Language, learning, identity, privilege that has since been taken down from Manila Bulletin.

Even my 14-year old son got so upset with his article I actually encouraged him to post a comment. But that was before I got to read what he had to say. And now that I've actually read his essay, I think he was gravely misunderstood. Admittedly, I started fuming when he started to sound elitist and high-nosed but simmered down when he faulted himself for not being Filipino enough - Only recently have I begun to grasp Filipino as the language of identity: the language of emotion, experience, and even of learning. And with this comes the realization that I do, in fact, smell worse than a malansang isda. My own language is foreign to me. And before that he wrote: There are ideas and concepts unique to Filipino that can never be translated into another. Try translating bayanihan, tagay, kilig or diskarte. I could add more to this list but that would be for another time.

I share Butch Dalisay's view. James should have stopped at this point. Having said that, I think what James needs now is to get out of the country, which I'm sure his parents can afford, and prove his perception of the English language and see if it truly is the "language of the learned". Because I can't say the same given where I am now.

"Trial by Jury" convention

2011-04-21T08:03:00.000+08:00

Before leaving the Philippines, I was helping advocate for the adoption of trial by jury into the country's judicial system.

I have since left the group but following years of ground work, advocates now led by my good friend Megs Relente, have incorporated and now call themselves Kamalayan sa Katarungan ng Lahing Kayumanggi, Inc. They are organizing their first convention to formally open the discussion towards changing the judicial system.

The convention is entitled Trial By Jury in the Philippines with the theme TRIAL by JURY : A STEP TOWARDS A BETTER PHILIPPINES and will be held on 9 June 2011 at the Great Eastern Hotel in Quezon Avenue. Registration fee is 1000PhP. Early bird discount of 800Php will be available until 27 May.

I won't even begin to discuss the benefits of a jury system because it's best left to the experts, but seeing how judges fear for their lives when presiding over controversial criminal trials and not to mention accusations of graft and corrupt practices of these men and women in robes, I believe having a jury is the best way of handing out justice.

The red book

2011-03-25T13:43:00.000+08:00

Three girls approached me at the info desk.

"We're looking for a book." said Girl 1.

"What's the code?" Girl 2 asked Girl 3. "I don't know", said Girl 3.

I walk up to them and asked what they were looking for.

"It's a book on event management", said Girl 1.

I went to the OPAC and made a search for books on event management - search results 50 titles. "Who's the author?", I asked them.

"I have no idea." Said Girl 1. As I was scrolling down the search results, their eyes glued to the screen, Girl 2 exclaims, "It's a red book!" (They were looking at the screen shots of book covers next to the titles.)

"Wait, wait. I'll go ask my friend." Said Girl 1.

"Don't worry about it!" Girl 1 told me from a distance. "My friend's got it!", then waves the book at me.

The book's cover? Black.

Got rid of Security Tool

2010-07-16T10:23:00.000+08:00

I was just leisurely browsing the Internet a while ago looking for recipes when I went into a website that set off the PCs antivirus software. The next thing I saw was a software downloading and before I knew what hit me I had a prompt on the screen telling me that Security Tool was successfully installed.

I didn't pay any attention to it as the antivirus advised it had taken care of the problem. But the program was annoying me already as it kept popping up with warnings that the PC was infected and was running fake scans. I just knew the scans were fake because I didn't install the program in the first place. It kept on advising me to register the software to which I just canceled the prompts.

I tried to delete the desktop shortcut to try and get rid of it but with no success. At this point, I was at wits end and decided to google it. And I was so shocked at what I initially read! Security Tool is a malware that tricks unsuspecting users to provide credit card details when registering the software. So I quickly looked for ways of removing the program (I didn't find it in the Windows programs list in the Control Panel) without downloading any software.

After going through several pages of the search results list, I found this video on You Tube that was so simple to do. Grab a pen and paper to take note of the instructions. Good riddance Security Tool!

Thank you caz939!

I'm so excited!

2010-06-24T07:59:00.000+08:00

The RDA Toolkit open access period has commenced! We applied for institutional access so pretty much all library staff can access the site and create profiles.

If you haven't signed up yet, just visit the link and register. Open access period is up to August 31, 2010.

The CPE needs a paradigm change

2010-02-04T08:34:00.005+08:00

Zarah's post on the CPE got my brains working. I've had the honor of serving in the first ever CPE board as Secretary back in 1993 fresh from the board exams, if I'm not mistaken, with other respected librarians. Since the idea of a Continuing Professional Education for librarians was a novelty, there was no outcry whatsoever to its adherence. We'd get loads of applications each month we met.

Fast forward to 2010 and there is now an undercurrent questioning its necessity from what I gathered from Zarah's post and with upcoming PAARL forum weeks from now.

Here's my two cents worth. Professional education should definitely be part of one's development more so for librarians as part of lifelong learning and to catch up with technology that changes every so often. However, to limit the activities one might engage in and earn credits to become eligible for license renewal is another thing. I say limit because continuing education should not be a one-size -fits-all package.

Nothing much has changed on what activities are eligible for CPE credits from back then and I think this has to be improved and be made less imposing. I mean, come on. Be practical. Not everyone is interested in getting a Master's degree let alone a Ph.D. save for promotional reasons. Speaking and writing activities are for those who have the gift and the connections. Attendance to seminars and the like still seems to be the most popular method of earning credits and this is where the problem lies, budget.

But as I've written earlier, be practical. Much of what I've acquired over the years I got from reading stuff on the web and putting them into practice. And who benefited from these? The library I worked for, of course. This, I think should be the essence of continuing education. Not piling up on the credits.

So I appeal to the BFL to think out of the box and be less restrictive in defining activities to earn credit from or scrap the credits altogether. Take blogging for instance. There has been an increase in library-related blogs over the years and I say the librarians who maintain these blogs should be given credit for it.

Life is hard as it is and don't make the CPE an additional burden to bear.

Missed opportunity

2010-01-28T07:14:00.006+08:00

Yesterday, the TV set was tuned in to TFC (The Filipino Channel) and a segment of Kulilits was on. I wasn't really watching it because I was busy playing with my toddler. But what caught my attention was when the camera panned around a room that looked like a library. Cutie little Bugoy was indeed in a library and I watched with bated breath on what was going to happen next. The sight of a library in a children's show truly got me excited!

But I set my hopes too high because right after Bugoy's initial spiel telling the viewers he was in the library, the lady sitting behind the counter, whom I assume to be a librarian, stood up then bent over to where Bugoy was and gave out a loud "Shush"! By golly gee, that sure made an impact on me! I was shocked to say the least.

After recovering from the initial shock, I was still keen on what was going to unfold. So the camera pans out to a lady sitting across the library then back to Bugoy. The camera follows Bugoy as he walks down the room towards the lady. I was thrilled with anticipation thinking to myself, "Ooh, I hope she's a librarian." So when he approaches the lady and greets her, her name and position flashes on the screen. And guess what, another surprise - she was a Reading teacher!

I can not, for the life of me, rationalize why the segment producers could not have asked the school librarian (the segment was shot in an exclusive girls school in Quezon City) to be part of the segment. I mean, who could better talk about library policies than a librarian! I don't have anything against a Reading teacher if she was talking about a particular book or something, but she was discussing library policies! Bugoy was asking all sorts of questions regarding the various signs in the library like why do students need to be quiet and why they can't eat or drink inside, that sort of stuff. The teacher managed to answer all his questions (of course everything's on the script), but still, I took it as an affront on librarianship.

Having said that, it just annoys me that the school's library administrator didn't scream in protest at their exclusion at what could have been a golden opportunity at promoting the library to young people at that and projecting a positive image of the librarian. At this point, I wouldn't even want to know who the library administrator is and be disappointed it's someone I know.

RDA subscription price for US out

2010-01-21T11:53:00.004+08:00

The Joint Steering Committee on RDA has just announced the price for subscribing to the RDA Toolkit. Price is for the US market only but it should give you an estimate of how much it would cost your library.

I wrote a 3-part piece on RDA back in 2008 if you want to refresh on the topic.

Getting back "my" life

2010-01-20T12:34:00.006+08:00

Now that Gabby's a bit more independent and can play by himself, I can finally do things around the house like tidying up, cooking, and ironing without him demanding for attention. But most importantly, I can get back to doing things I haven't done for some time like recreational reading and doing Qigong, which I learned from an Assumption nun, Sr. Mary C., RA. And blogging, of course!

When Gabby turned one, I came to a point where I realized I had to give myself some breathing space after going on maternity leave for a year, where everything I did revolved around the baby. For starters, I signed up to do volunteer work to give me a reason to get out of the house and be in touch with other people. That included an 8-week training which was a welcome change even if it meant I had to go home late on a workday. Then last year I enrolled in an online course that ran for a year and managed to complete and pass. And I have to give credit to my hubby and my two older sons for supporting me through all these.

I was never one to be tied down at home in a previous life (in the Philippines, that is) and having accomplished these has lifted my spirits and sense of self-worth. After raising a baby sans yayas, lola, and titas, I think I have outdone myself this time around. There remains one thing though, getting myself to lose my excess fats. If only I could get rid of them or at least knock off some kilos, now that would be an achievement!

Overdrive

2010-01-15T01:39:00.004+08:00

Last Friday, at around 3:30 am, I woke up overflowing with ideas for this blog. And as you might see, it's been quite a while since my last post.

It seemed that my subconscious had a "brainstorm" that went on overdrive that it literally jolted me from an otherwise restful slumber. And much as I wanted to go back to sleep, the ideas just came pouring in one after the other that I had no choice but to grab my iPhone and type in all the ideas and assign titles to them.

So yeah, it's good to be back.

(Photo caption: Brainstorm, from Ben 10 Alien Force courtesy of fanpop.com)