Books for the Barrios Faces Financial Crisis

From "Literacy Effort Faces Financial Crisis" by Leslie Brinkley (ABC7, 20 March 2007):

Books for the Barrios has established 1,000 classrooms in the Philippines and even four floating libraries to reach kids on remote islands. But donations evaporated in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Books for the Barrios is now in crisis.

Nancy Harrington: "It will close if we do not get some substantial funding. We operate on $102,000 dollars a year and we need $60,000 dollars by July in order to keep this place open."

Note: This was taken from a transcript of a news report. You can watch the video here.

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International Calendar ofInformation Science Conferences

Aside from Library Related Conferences (LRC), you can now check the International Calendar of Information Science Conferences (ICISC) for international conferences on information science and related disciplines. Unlike LRC, ICISC is backed up by a group, specifically the American Society for Information Science & Technology.

But while the LRC site is plain vanilla (use your browser's "find" to look for specific words), ICISC has bells and whistles worthy of its organization... except that the site's usability leaves much to be desired. "Search," for instance, is hidden at the bottom, right-hand corner of the calendar in the window on the site.

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The Librarians: The TV Series

"The Librarians" is an Australian TV series that will be shown soon. Here's the synopsis:

The six-part series centres on the trials and tribulations of Frances O'Brien, a devout Catholic and head librarian. Her life unravels when she is forced to employ her ex-best friend, Christine Grimwood - now a drug dealer - as the children's librarian. Frances must do all she can to contain her menacing past and concentrate on the biggest event of the library calendar - Book Week.

And since "Filipina Teacher Librarian" is now "Filipina Librarian in the Land Down Under," let's hope she can update us regarding how typical—or stereotypical—the portrayals are =)

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Remember the USIS Libraries 2

Someone at the Manila Times seems to really care for libraries. Last January, it had an editorial that mentioned the USIS libraries. Last month, it had a more explicit one, again mentioning the USIS libraries. From "Balikatan changes course" (Manila Times, 22 February 2007):

Few Philippine cities and towns boast of a public library. The law calling for the establishment of a library in every town remains a scrap because the municipal governments do not have the money or the interest for a reading center. The National Library in Manila, modest by world standards, has not found a respectable copy on the islands.

Most school libraries are wanting in reading materials. The newest books, the latest newspapers and the basic texts cannot be found in their premises.

There was a time in the 50s and 60s when the most popular American institution in the Philippines was not the US Embassy but the USIS (US Information Service) Library. The library moved several times—in places like the Escolta and Santa Mesa—but members and bibliophiles by the thousands followed it and used its facilities wherever it traveled.

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Do You Know What People Say About You?

If they're talking behind your back, you probably don't. But if they're putting it on the Internet, then you have a shot at knowing what they're saying about you. Or your family, school, company. Or your library.

In "Monitoring Your Reputation," Stephen Abram links to his column on ego feeds (pdf) and "31 Places to Monitor Your Reputation Online" by Li Evans. If BPI had been monitoring blogs, they would have known about Bugsy's problem without third-party intervention.

So what are bloggers saying about Filipino libraries? It can be as sweeping and fleeting as memorylady's "it sucks that we don't have proper city libraries here in the philippines" and IslandGirl's "But public libraries are a joke in the Philippines." Or it can be as detailed as the following, which incidentally were posted on the same day:

Trisha

Kanina lang, habang nagreresearch ako sa Microfilm section, may lumapit sa aking Guidon member at tinanong ako kung pwede raw ba ako mainterview. Sinabi ko pwede. Sabi niya, tungkol daw ito sa library ng Ateneo bilang the best library among the universities in the Philippines. Una, tinanong niya ako tungkol sa benifits ng library. Sabi ko yung technology, tapos facilities, and the like... And another question, parang agree ka ba na Ateneo lib nga ang the best? Sabi ko "I personally have not been into other libraries, but I think it is reasonable that the Ateneo lib is the best."

Nico

Last Saturday February 10, 2007, I was burdened by tons and tons of research work. Due to this, a strong unusual force coming from the university library attracted me. This unusual force made me shiver to my bones. This is because; out of all the spaces and hideouts in school the library is an absolute horror. Believe me, at times, I read books but the UP library just isn’t a place to stay at. Dust from the old and ancient books are released every time you open one of those prehistoric books. The UP library could be even considered as a museum! (Grin** I might get kicked out for that one… Hehe..) If we compare the UP library to the libraries of private institutions, it would seem that ours is a mockery!

And finally, there are people like Ipat who really care about their libraries:

Congratulations to the staff at the T.M. Kalaw Library in Lipa City. I visited two years ago asking if they had a section for children's books and brainstormed with the librarian Ma'am Arlene. I went back recently and my faith in government was renewed somewhat because of the hardworking and involved staff at the library who set up the Children's Corner... I am collecting books from today to the end of the year to donate to this library to make its book collection closer to decent...

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FO: Index to Philippine Newspapers

Thanks to the UP Library Bulletin, I found out that the Index to Philippine Newspapers (IPN) is now available online.

More than 140,000 articles (1988-present) from the following newspapers have been indexed:

Kabayan
Malaya
Manila Bulletin
Manila Chronicle
Manila Times
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Philippine Star
Today

Clicking on the links above will lead to the websites of newspapers that are freely available online. Not all these sites, however, have archives that are indexed by search engines.

Considering that those with archives aren't complete and/or won't always be available, the IPN may be used as another way to look for Filipino newspaper articles. It's still not completely finished and the articles themselves are not provided, but hey, it's better than nothing =)

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Edsa 20/20: One Year Later

The Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) has made available the text of the special issue of iReport commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Edsa Revolution. Interviews with twenty individuals, such as Cory Aquino, Imelda Marcos, and other major players and representatives from all walks of life, indicate how much—or how little—has changed twenty years after that historic event.

One year later, the economy seems to be better, but politicians are as disappointing as ever. And the Aquinos just seem to be sinking to new depths all the time. The "Kris and Borgy" billboards weren't exactly Kris Aquino's fault, but was there any excuse for the "Cory and Loi" show? Read "The Aquinos Today: What would Ninoy say?" (Philippine News, 28 February 2007), and see for yourself how Ninoy's family seems to have all the bases covered when it comes to political scandals—from showbiz intrigue to sibling rivalry to turncoatism.

On a personal note, last year, all I could do was link to the podcast and share the "outtakes" from the article that I contributed to the special issue (see "Fr. Archie Intengan on the Church Today"). Well, you may now read "Romeo J. Intengan" by Vernon R. Totanes =) Please note that it has a page 2.

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Conrado de Quiros and Christ

From "'Losers'" by Conrado de Quiros (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 8 March 2007):

"'T---na, tapang lang 'yan" ["Christ, all it takes is heart"].

The quote above is from a column on senatorial bets who are not expected to win. I don't know whether de Quiros himself provided the translation, but equating a word that needs to be bleeped out with "Christ" seems to be just plain wrong. And I'm not even thinking about this in religious terms. What's ironic is that the column ends with a reference to Christ's apostles.

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Library Assistant as Murderer?

PRIEST: For five years, Benny's been Professor Chavez's assistant. Usually small things: cleaning, sweeping, keeping the library organized. Benny had an unusual mastery about the Dewey Decimal System.

Benny is also the primary suspect in the murder of Professor Chavez in QWERTY, a 5-minute film by Paolo Dy that has been entered in the new filmmaking reality show "On the Lot."

Dy is a Filipino filmmaker. Watch the film by clicking on the image above, rate it, and tell all your friends about this film that takes a typewriter and a suspect who can't speak, and draws viewers into the mind of the murderer.

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Ambeth Ocampo on Librarians

From "Librarians" by Ambeth Ocampo (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 9 March 2007):

It is unfortunate that people have prejudged certain types of work, like those of librarians, teachers and even historians, as "boring" professions. Worse, there is a stereotype image of an uptight, four-eyed woman like the comic book’s "Miss Tapia" who spends her time scolding, or silencing students and library users.

I have known many eminent librarians, including our National Librarian Prudenciana Cruz who is several kilos heavier than Miss Tapia, or the University of the Philippines’ librarian Salvacion Arlante who has the same eyeglasses and demeanor but not the hair-do. Then there are the librarians at the Lopez Museum and the Ateneo Rizal Library, both young ones and “young once,” who do not fit the stereotype.

What can I say? After writing about the need to hire librarians for libraries, I discovered that the highest-ranking friend of Filipino librarians just devoted a column to our profession. There are some gentle jabs and overly-optimistic generalizations, but overall, this column should be much more effective in promoting our profession than the one by the useless what's-his-name =)

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Librarian-less Libraries are Just Buildings

From a press release:

Senator Ralph Recto wants 60 libraries to be established next year to be named after noted Filipino writers, saying these facilities would not only honor deceased writers but also encourage the youth and adults alike to develop a passion for reading.

Recto’s proposal comes in the wake of the finding that three in every four recent elementary school graduates cannot read without assistance.

I applaud the intention of building libraries and the desire to honor writers and promote reading, but I do not see how erecting libraries, by themselves, will encourage Filipinos to "develop a passion for reading." It would probably be more effective for Recto to ask his wife Vilma Santos to join the Get Caught Reading campaign.

The less popular—but more effective, in my biased opinion—initiative that Recto can push is to highlight the importance of hiring competent librarians for all existing public school libraries and those he wants to set up; librarians who will not just keep the books in order, but reach out to their communities to promote reading and literacy. Just as the Senate is not merely a repository of laws, libraries are not just buildings full of books. And just as not all senators are worthy of the name, not everyone who works in a library is, in fact, a librarian.

Libraries with "librarians" who just happen to be relatives or friends of the appointing authorities, but with no knowledge of what professional librarians actually do, will very likely discourage—not encourage—reading. Libraries without librarians who care about their communities and books will just be a waste of time, space, effort and money.

So go ahead, build the libraries, name them after writers, but don't forget to hire the librarians who will manage the libraries, attract readers and make sure that those readers know who the writers are. Oh, and remember to mention the need for librarians in your press releases.

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Pinoy Top Blogs: February 2007

Pinoy Top Blogs (PTB) almost came to an end last February. Yuga suspended PTB indefinitely at the start of the month due to financial considerations, but brought it back a few days later when a donor provided a "much faster and bigger dedicated server to host the site." I suppose I could go into the declines in total unique hits (UH) and this month's hits (TMH), but it wouldn't really be worth the effort because PTB was down so much in February.

What IS interesting was Rickey's decision to remove his blog from PTB, which opened up the top spot for other bloggers. Surprisingly, the blog next in line for oh-so-many-months was NOT the one that moved up. In fact, Starmometer jumped from 6th to No. 1, and Blogged went from 16th to No. 2. What happened? The clue I believe lies in the latter blog's new name—American Idol @ Blogged. I suspect that posts about American Idol, specifically Antonella Barba, have been driving traffic to both. This, of course, seems only appropriate considering that their predecessor made it to the top because of his devotion to the reality show that shows no sign of slowing down.

Other notable increases compared with January 2007 rankings were those by High Denzity (from 31 to 12) and Filipina Soul (from 37 to 23), and newcomers i heart np and Pinoy Money Talk.

The following are the raw data as of 26 February 2007:

JA 6 16 2 3 7 4 8 5 9 12 10 31 20 13 14 15 17 29 21 25 22 24 37 18 23 26 11 34 27 33 19 32 - 44 - 40 30 43 - 35 38 - 41 42 46 - 49 50 - 39

FE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

NAME OF BLOG Starmometer Blogged Bryanboy: Le Superstar Fabuleux Motorcycle Philippines Retzwerx - Ang Inyong Pinoy Big Blogger Pinoy Cook Kiven Mukamo Philippines Pinoy Rickey laurganism.com Our Awesome Planet High Denzity Inside PCIJ: Stories behind our stories SELaplana Philippines For Men Putanginamo.com Pinoy Tech Blog Skirmisher Chikadora Ellen Tordesillas Basang Panaginip textmates Filipina Soul Cellphone9 Photojunkie Touched by an Angel Pinoy BSN Pinoy Travel Blog EntrePinoys Atbp Quezon.ph Leon Kilat: The Cybercafe Experiments [m]channel! i heart np Composed Gentleman Pinoy Money Talk :: Pinoys making money together Finance Manila GPCarreon ABS-CBN Kapamilya Aficionado Alleba Blog The J Spot WeddingsAtWork.com News Blog Shopping Finds Kwentong Tambay Parenting-Weblog.com The Sunday Punch ederic@cyberspace Filipino Librarian Coconuter - Philippine Travelogue by a Nomad Straight From The Doc Splasher TOTAL

UH 118,544 88,405 82,391 68,266 59,160 48,995 43,238 42,243 40,913 39,661 34,464 32,738 28,889 24,033 23,743 23,498 23,304 21,855 21,705 21,067 18,215 17,973 17,721 16,384 15,817 15,505 15,275 15,260 14,904 14,663 14,600 14,298 13,627 12,232 11,772 11,563 11,524 10,272 10,046 10,018 9,977 9,363 8,993 8,991 8,654 8,469 8,410 8,100 7,518 7,406 1,254,662

TMH 277,001 120,854 183,453 108,042 122,263 191,272 120,559 95,369 106,641 73,154 72,702 49,347 44,036 42,709 82,114 65,289 45,954 33,749 40,588 76,708 45,990 42,237 25,849 22,326 23,701 25,083 32,096 41,626 54,550 32,007 21,046 23,883 27,934 20,219 64,143 16,476 21,677 14,804 13,491 15,081 18,920 14,400 16,750 11,978 32,348 17,965 16,065 33,818 10,570 13,341 2,722,178

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Reading Inspires Kids

Chapters Indigo is a Canadian bookstore, but believe it or not, I found out about the advertisement above through Filipino bloggers Gelo and Tobie. I hope they can Get Caught Reading, too =)

From the Love of Reading page:

The average annual school budget is less than $30,000.
Teachers spend over $1,000 of their own money annually on student resources.
46 percent of Ontario's grade 3 children fail the standard reading examination.
Thousands of university and college students need remedial courses to develop reading skills they should have acquired in the first three years of grade school.

I don't think Philippine figures would be better, but I suspect they might be worse.

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