From "Goodbye, book card" by Roy Lu (Cebu Daily News, 13 December 2007):
I do not know whether local school libraries have now adopted Internet technologies for archiving, tracking or accessing books or other materials, or if they have remained as they have ever since the library card, the index card and the identification card were developed as the tripod that supported the entire library’s functioning.I wish I could say that he doesn't know what he's talking about, but he's actually just confirming what I have noted in the past. People don't know where public libraries, if any, are located. And if they do find them, libraries are more likely to be closed.
I doubt it. I doubt even more that public libraries – where? – have been brought up to speed. I bet they would still be up on the speed they have always moved at: immobile.
I’m reminded of this quaint little immobile library I stumbled into one afternoon (a Sunday, I guess) in Bantayan town. It must have had some sign announcing itself or I wouldn’t have recognized it because, aside from that, it was just like any ordinary house in the town center. And then, this I’m sure of, it was closed.
I wish I had a brilliant suggestion to improve our public library system, but I don't. I'm not even working as a librarian right now and will be leaving the country in two weeks, so all I can do is call attention to Lu's article, and hope that our library leaders read it and are moved to do something about the public's perception of our libraries.
