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Pinoy Top Blogs: May 2007

The Top 50 Pinoy Top Blogs (PTB) grew by 9 percent and 7 percent over April figures, in terms of total unique hits (UH) and this month's hits (TMH), respectively.

Top gainers were Motorcycle Philippines and Philippine Eleksyon 2007 (PE 2007), both of which came from outside the Top 50 to claim spots in the Top 15. The former is one of the rare "swingers," which means that it used to be consistently in the Top 5, disappeared from the list last month, but is now on its way back to where it used to be. The latter, meanwhile, seems to have been helped more than just a bit by the elections held last month.

But if my guess is correct, however, then why is it that two other blogs—namely Inside PCIJ and Quezon.ph—which were the next two highest gainers, did not even gain half as much as PE 2007? Could it have had something to do with the keywords in PE 2007's blog title and URL? Or could it be that recycled content is really much better than original content when it comes to attracting readers? I hope I'm wrong about the last one.

The following are the raw data as of 28 May 2007:


AP

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


MY

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
Mukamo Philippines
Kiven
Bryanboy: Le Superstar Fabuleux
Retzwerx - Ang Inyong Pinoy Big Blogger
Pinoy Rickey
Skirmisher
Our Awesome Planet
Blogged
Putanginamo.com
Naruto Blog
Pinoy Cook
Motorcycle Philippines
SELaplana
Philippine Eleksyon 2007
Cellphone9
Pinoy Tech Blog
[m]channel!
laurganism.com
Touched by an Angel
Leon Kilat: The Cybercafe Experiments
Inside PCIJ: Stories behind our stories
Chikadora
Pinoy Travel Blog
ABS-CBN Kapamilya Aficionado
Basang Panaginip
Davao Today
textmates
Who Nestle's Poell?
Shopping Finds
Pinoy Money Talk :: Pinoys making money together
Finance Manila
Ellen Tordesillas
The Sunday Punch
EntrePinoys Atbp
Filipina Soul
Alleba Blog
Quezon.ph
Pinoy BSN
Pinoy Food Photo Blog
GPCarreon
Nostalgia Manila
Philippines For Men
Composed Gentleman
Parenting-Weblog.com
Photojunkie
The J Spot
The Man Blog
Walk this Way
Rants and Raves

TOTAL
UH

242,979
145,219
127,054
119,995
105,235
78,443
73,008
70,856
67,269
61,426
59,872
57,929
55,803
40,936
37,271
34,067
31,995
31,897
30,505
29,995
28,744
27,566
26,821
26,581
25,648
24,895
24,333
23,823
23,178
22,546
22,436
20,997
20,698
20,556
17,788
17,565
17,484
16,995
15,452
15,080
13,806
13,640
13,564
13,371
13,179
12,985
12,965
12,301
11,882
11,082

2,069,715
TMH

527,872
406,909
248,231
250,581
223,629
181,949
110,802
156,381
90,255
161,481
99,421
185,499
94,837
63,053
82,114
43,885
54,414
45,015
57,982
48,942
40,054
40,606
51,805
64,139
56,003
64,553
53,911
58,578
38,558
32,308
120,710
32,338
66,805
82,973
70,587
25,454
22,087
43,080
33,701
33,784
25,672
27,564
82,130
21,226
17,260
19,092
19,666
92,906
21,680
19,326

4,511,808

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Break Time

In case any of you have been wondering why I haven't posted anything in more than a week, it's because I've been rather preoccupied. It'll probably take a few more days before I start posting again.

But don't worry, it's nothing to worry about. In fact, one of the things I've been busy with was my ticket to Manila! I'll be home by August =)

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Coming Soon: The Hollywood Librarian

They have more cardholders than Visa.
More outlets than McDonald's.
They move more items than FedEx.
Meet America's librarians.
The video above is the trailer of The Hollywood Librarian: A Look at Librarians Through Film, written and directed by Ann Seidl, who also happens to have a degree in MLIS. Other videos available include "Behind the Scenes" and "Original Score." For more information, check out the official website and blog.

If a similar documentary were to be made about Filipino librarians...

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Harassment and Blogging

A student felt harassed.

And that's what she wrote in her blog. That's what I echoed in "Sexual Harassment @ Your Library?" But it looks like my post had some unintended consequences, and Robs Quiambao has deemed it necessary to remove her original post, and write "Lib Matters, My Apologies," which includes the following:

As I’ve written in my previous post, maybe he’s just being nice and all that. And I’m not saying that he’s not. And on second thought, maybe "harassed" was too serious or heavy a word. (Besides, I had no idea this issue would be this big.) Nonetheless, it doesn’t take away the fact that I feel uncomfortable when he does that; and I’m quite freaked out... Anyway, I might just tell Mr. Librarian himself that his actions make me feel uneasy, so everything should be cleared up.

My apologies to all the librarians who were offended by my previous post.
I agree that what she felt was important. I do not agree, though, that the use of the word "harassed" was too heavy. That's what she felt. I don't think there's a need to apologize. I don't think she did anything wrong. She was writing about her feelings on her blog. So I really wonder who the offended librarians were and what they did to make Quiambao feel that she had to apologize for what she wrote.

I do, however, need to apologize to Robs Quiambao and to this blog's readers for equating "harassment" with "sexual harassment." I did, in fact, put a question mark at the end of my post's title, but that is no excuse for suggesting that what occurred was a form of sexual harassment. The harassment may have been sexual in nature or not, but it was not for me to make that connection. And I apologize.

Finally, I would like to point out that it was not my intention to start a controversy. It was actually my way of encouraging librarians to use the Internet to find out what users are saying about their libraries. Why? Because written satisfaction surveys are only as good as the questions asked and the answers given. Because stories that circulate by word-of-mouth are not likely to reach the ears of those who need to hear them. Because a complaint is a gift, and complaints are not always officially reported, but may be found via the Internet. And so, I guess it's time for a post on how librarians can find out what their users think about them...

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Sexual Harassment @ Your Library?

See update at "Harassment and Blogging."

In "Do You Know What People Say About You?" I shared some feedback from bloggers regarding libraries. The feedback below is about a "scary librarian," as narrated by Robs Quiambao, who is female, notwithstanding the masculine nickname:

And speaking of librarians…just this morning—or noon, to be more accurate—the scary librarian at the Filipiniana/Gen Ref Sections harassed me again. Or maybe he’s just being mabait [nice], whatever, but every time he does that, I feel so harassed. And he’s been doing that since my first year in college. He looks at my ID longer than usual. And he says “bye-bye” to me every single time I leave the lib. He’s really creepy. He’s the only librarian who says “bye-bye” and all that. Kanina, humirit pa ng “Ingat” ang lolo mo [Earlier, gramps even added, "Take care"]. grandseizar was with me at the lib. And he, too, was shocked.
If I were the library director, I'd try to find out a little more. If this account is true, then she is probably not the only one being harassed by this person.

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Danton Remoto for Congress

In "Danton Remoto: A fabulous run for Congress" by Ricky Gallardo (Sunday Times Magazine, 6 May 2007), Remoto explains why he is entering the world of politics:

Because you cannot just complain and do nothing concrete. We are great talkers but bad workers. Because government gives you access to resources that can be used to change people’s lives. Like in District 3, there are health centers, but why do the doctors work only half-day, if at all? Why are there no medicines readily available? Why do five students share one textbook? Why do the barangay libraries exist when the shelves have no books? Why are the day-care centers closed? Why are the informal settlers mired in poverty and hopelessness? (emphasis added)
The answers to his questions, if you read the article, are clearly not just due to lack of money. After all, Remoto has gained the lead in his district—and even national recognition—without spending millions on advertising that other candidates have thrown at the TV networks.

But I've written about money and leadership before, so I'll just ask a question: If a library has no books, is it really a library? Remember, though, that the libraries Remoto refers to do not have electronic subscriptions or collections; they would be lucky to have even one computer. Perhaps someone like Remoto—who writes books, teaches literature, uses libraries and has worked as a publisher—can make a difference. I wish I were home so I could vote for him.

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Pinoy Big Biblioblogosphere: April 2007

It's time for the Filipino version of the Carnival of the Infosciences, This Week in LibraryBlogLand at LISNews, and Rambling Librarian's Highlights from Singapore LibraryBlogLand.

This will be a monthly post, so if you'd like to have your blog covered in future posts, leave a comment below. It doesn't matter if you're a librarian, a library student or a non-librarian. If you're a Filipino—or even a foreigner based in the Philippines—blogging about libraries, books, literacy, etc., let me know so that I can add your blog to my Google Reader.

Our first housemate-blogger is Zarah Gagatiga, whose two-part "The Living Library" (1 2) explains why "a reader friendly library is a library that is alive and thriving in all aspects of services and programs." Peachy Limpin discusses the use of wireless technology in conducting the annual inventory at her library in Australia. Arnold Zafra shares how bloggers can use the new Wordpress Theme Generator. On a related note, Juned Sonido and Noel Feria wrote about their experiences at iblog3. This reminds me of the first time I met librarian-bloggers at iblog more than two years ago. And now there are enough libloggers to do this review. Wow!

Next up are those who have been sharing their notes on recent conferences and lectures for librarians.

There's Mel Cichon, who has been emailing his notes on a recent conference on emerging trends in libraries and information services to the PAARL Yahoogroup, but has also already posted most of them to his blog. Then there's PLAI-STRLC, which provides the slides used at a lecture on continuing professional education for librarians and existing library standards. And of course, there's the report on the annual GAB lecture at the UP Library Bulletin.

Non-librarians have been writing about reading. Sacha Chua shares her thoughts on a book that will "help kids fall in love with reading," and links to her mom's post (!) on teaching the love of reading. Connie Veneracion maintains that a love for reading does not depend on how much money you have. But what do you do if you don't have money to buy books? Juned Sonido, who seems to have more blogs than any librarian I know, suggests alternatives to buying books.

Finally, the following are blogs that you may wish to explore or subscribe to just because what they're writing about or doing should make us think about the future of libraries. There's Read or Die, which has been going through some changes as a "club," but may in fact be viewed as a type of library managed by readers, not librarians. Charles Tan writes in a post on music piracy that, "The problem with ebooks is that they haven't really caught on," which should be food for thought to those who think that books aren't necessary anymore. And then there's Kiven, who has a degree in LIS, but "catalogs" more babes than books. If the position "gaming librarian" ever makes it to Philippine libraries, I'm willing to bet that he'd be one of the first choices for the position.

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Pinoy Top Blogs: April 2007

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