Filipino Librarian: 2017

A few weeks ago, I was surprised to find my photo and name in a list of the hottest Filipino librarians. To be perfectly honest, I don't think I belong on the list. And I'm not being modest. Just take a look at the photos below ;-)

Note: All photos below are used with permission. And everyone on the list is a licensed librarian, except where indicated otherwise.

ISHEE finished her master's degree in library and information science in 2015, and is currently working at a law library. Her husband suggested using the pic above. He's sweet, right?

VINCE was a varsity basketball player before he traded balls and hoops for books and computers. He still manages, however, to score points with the college girls who line up to ask him questions... at the reference desk.

DIANNE, a magna cum laude graduate from the premier state university, is currently a full-time law student who's also studying for the librarian licensure exam. Oh, and she routinely beats her bf at Tekken.

NOEL followed in his mother's footsteps and is now a librarian at an international research institute. Except she's more like Marian the Librarian, and he's more like, well... Conan the Librarian's younger brother.

JOL is an AV librarian at an exclusive high school for boys. She approves their friend requests on Facebook only after they graduate AND only if she's friends with them IRL.

PHILIP is the kind of school librarian in whose presence a teenage girl has pretended to faint and who, after he took her into his arms to get her some help, started shouting, "Ang bango ni sir!!!"

KAORI is half-Filipino, half-Japanese. She's a librarian at the oldest university in the Philippines, where she's been told that she's "too hot to be a librarian." QED.

CARLO, who works at a local development bank, has been told he looks like K-drama star Lee Min Ho. But he does not take such comments seriously. He just strikes a pose and lets them decide. (Ok, I made up the last part.)

TIN is a hot mama who's employed as a librarian in Qatar. Her husband objected to posting her smoking hot pics, and that's why all you'll see here are the husband-approved pics above.

TROY is a storyteller who loves kids so much that once in a while he dresses up as HENERAL BASA at his public library and elsewhere. He makes reading fun... and that's hot!

Mila Medina Ramos

The Professional Regulation Commission conferred the Outstanding Professional Librarian of the Year Award on Mila Medina Ramos on 23 June 2017. The citation reads:

For her distinguished contribution in the field of librarianship as demonstrated by her exemplary service to her profession through sharing of her expertise as resource speaker in local and international fora and providing free on-the-job training to local and foreign librarians; for her strong commitment and professionalism having served as member of the Board for Librarians and conducting reviews for takers of the Librarians Licensure Examination; for promoting the library profession through her book, essays and lectures and updating of Philippine Standards for Special Libraries; for her participation in national committees for framing cataloguing standards and librarians' competencies;

For steering the International Rice Research library into one of the model libraries in the Philippines and for pioneering the creation of PhilAgriNet, and assuming a major role in the formation of the CGIAR Libraries and Information Services Consortium; for heading the ALAP as its President who engineered IRRI's membership in the Agricultural Networks Information Collaborative (AgNIC) and took the initiative in conducting librarian-related research;

For her competence, excellence, and commendable track record that earned for her various awards and recognition, such as the Outsanding Librarian Award (ALAP, 2005), Outstanding Academic/Research Librarian Award 2005 (PAARL, 2006), CGIAR Science Award (CGIAR, 2006), PLAI-STRLC Most Distinguished Librarian Award (2009) that served as a testament to her outstanding career.

Thanks to Rene Manlangit for the citation and photo.

Category: Librarians—Awardees