New Websites and the Future ofLibrarianship in the Philippines

What is the state of librarianship in the Philippines? I think the fact that PLAI and PATLS do not have websites says a lot about "Philippine librarianship in the 21st century."

This passage appeared toward the end of a post I wrote about the "Manila International Bookfair 2007." Well, the Philippine Librarians Association, Inc. (PLAI) still does not have a website (thankfully, some of its regional councils have active blogs), but the Philippine Association of Teachers of Library Science (PATLS) now has one that provides reason to hope that future Filipino librarians will be able to take full advantage of the possibilities offered by the Internet.

This development led me to think that it's time I featured some of the new—ok, in some cases, not all that new—websites that I've been hoping to blog about separately. So here goes...

Philippine Association of Teachers of Library Science (PATLS)

It's not quite fully functional yet, but take a look at the new president's speech on "Republic Act 9246 and LIS Education in the Philippines" to see where they're headed. The "Scholarship Program" will be helpful for students, but there don't seem to be any instructions on how to apply at this time.

Infolib

This free library software was one of the few I featured in "Free Library Software" that did not have a website where the software could be downloaded. Now it does. There's no forum for users yet, but there is a "Paypal Donate button," which association websites should consider emulating.

Medical and Health Librarian's Association of the Philippines (MAHLAP)

This association used to have a website that hadn't been updated in years, so this new website looks very promising. Its latest newsletter (pdf) may be downloaded, but either they're still working on making previous newsletters available or I just can't find the links to click.

PAARLWiki

This companion site to the official website of the Philippine Association of Academic and Research Librarians (PAARL) is probably the most complete and updated source for links to articles on, libraries in, standards for, organizations in and outstanding librarians from the Philippines. It has a very limited number of contributors (including this blogger), but most of the work has been done by Fe Angela M. Verzosa.

Finally, there are the websites of the UP School of Library and Information Studies (UP SLIS), the UP Future Library and Information Professionals of the Philippines (UP FLIPP) and the UP Library and Information Science Students’ Association (UP LISSA), all of which sport features that show its creators and readers are not only tech-savvy, but web-savvy.

The future of librarianship in the Philippines looks very bright indeed. I just hope all these websites will continue to be updated regularly.