There are 75 Filipino librarians at the IFLA World Library and Information Congress in Singapore. The most remarkable thing, however, is that so many of us are presenting papers and posters. Since 2006, the Philippines has averaged ONE paper and ZERO posters in the annual conference program. This year, it has SEVEN papers and FOUR posters.
What happened? Perhaps the proximity of the venue (and hence, lower costs) had something to do with it. Note, however, that a similar phenomenon did not take place in 2006, when the conference was held in South Korea. I'd like to think that this is a manifestation of the growing desire of Filipino librarians not only to participate in the global discourse between librarians around the world, but also to do research and obtain PhD degrees =)
The following are the paper and poster presenters from the Philippines:
PAPER PRESENTERS
MELANIE ABAD (National Library of the Philippines)
Performance: interactive storytelling
NORA FE ALAJAR (Davao City Public Library)
Increasing demands on public libraries in hard economic times: Innovation and partnership to meet community needs at Davao City Public Library
NELIA R. BALAGAPO (Asian Development Bank)
Creating bridges to prosperity in the Asia and Pacific Region: the ADB Library Experience
IYRA S. BUENROSTRO and JOHANN FREDERICK A. CABBAB (University of the Philippines Diliman)
Reliving the Filipino classical music heritage: preservation and restoration of Philippine art music manuscripts of the University of the Philippines-Diliman College of Music
LILIA F. ECHIVERRI (University of the Philippines Diliman)
Open access to official and authenticated legal information in the Philippines
VERNON R. TOTANES (Ateneo de Manila University)
Textbook case: a colonial history book's influence (or lack thereof) on the miseducation of the Filipino
ROMULO R. UBAY, JR., MARTIN JULIUS V. PEREZ, TERESITA C. MORAN (Far Eastern University) and JOANNA O. SIAPNO (De La Salle University)
Exploring Filipiniana rare books and the state of Filipiniana rare books management
CRISTINA B. VILLANUEVA (University of the Philippines Baguio)
Preserving Cordillera culture and history through the University of the Philippines Baguio Cordillera Studies Collection Library and Archives
POSTER PRESENTERS
ALICIA S. PARAISO (Goethe-Institut Manila)
The Goethe-Institut Library in Southeast Asia: your gateway to Germany; eeting the challenges and opportunities of the future
KARRYL KIM A. SAGUN (Ateneo de Manila University)
What does it meme? Using Internet memes to promote services of the Rizal Library
MARTIN JULIUS V. PEREZ & TERESITA C. MORAN (Far Eastern University)
Far Eastern University Library: the 2012 Philippine Academic/Research Librarians, Inc. (PAARL) Outstanding Academic/Research Library
NORA FE ALAJAR (Davao City Public Library)
Community Partnership for Economic Opportunity
NOTE: Several satellite meetings were held before WLIC2013, and were not officially part of the annual conference program. I hope the Filipino librarians who presented at those meetings will forgive me for not including their names here.
