The Professional Regulation Commission conferred the Outstanding Professional Librarian of the Year Award on Blesila P. Velasco on 10 December 2023. The citation (condensed by me) reads:
Serving for more than two decades in the library and information science field, this public servant, professional teacher, and librarian specializes in public librarianship, with an interest in project management. While working at the National Library of the Philippines (NLP), she chaired several projects, both international and national projects from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts, Asia Foundation, and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grants. She was one of the Innovators of the International Network of Emerging Library Innovators. Right after, she became the project director of the International Network of Emerging Library Innovators – Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and the first president of ASEAN Public Libraries Information Network. She also became the idea originator and team leader of the Network of Emerging Filipino Library Innovators Cohorts 1 and 2.
As Public Libraries Division Chief of NLP, she has provided technical assistance to numerous public libraries/local government units in 51 provinces in the country, specifically more than a hundred public libraries monitored and inspected and provided inputs for their further development, 342 public libraries established/affiliated with NLP, and thousands of librarians and public library personnel were trained, and several training, seminars, and similar activities were designed and undertaken.
Outside work hours, she extends her time for the consultations and guidance of public libraries, is an active member of national library associations, and has chaired several committees in NLP, LIS Month in 2019, NBW in 2020, etc. Some of her initiatives are the Philippine Public Libraries Leadership Conversations which consists of 5 committees to work on the public library as an indicator of the Seal of Good Local Governance and Plantilla positions in public libraries, amendments of RA 7743, competencies of public librarians, revision of the Standards for Philippine Public Libraries, and departmentalization of public libraries; pioneered the webinars and online learning for public library personnel.
Source: PRC
