They're Called the Net Generation Librarians by Ronald S. Lim

Old, dour, and extremely conservative. Of course, that stereotypical image of the librarian is far from the truth.

Today’s Filipino librarians are very much in touch with the modern times. For instance, librarians Zarah Gagatiga and Von Totanes both have popular blogs – Filipino Librarian in Action and Filipino Librarian, respectively – that discuss the many different issues that today’s librarians face.

This was also a top concern as librarian Johann Cabbab presided over a forum that tackled the many ways today’s librarians may utilize the immense power of the Internet to their advantage.

The forum was held at the Manila International Book Fair, ongoing until tomorrow, Sunday, Sept. 20, at the SMX Convention Center, SM Mall of Asia. The forum was dubbed as “Net Generation Librarians” and was organized by The Association of Special Libraries of the Philippines’ (ALSP).

BRAND NEW WORLD

Cabbab defines net generation librarians as those who utilize the tools of current technologies to better provide services to their users.

As an assistant professor of Library and Information Science (LIS) at the University of the Philippines (UP), Cabbab is keen on introducing modern technologies, especially the Internet, to his students. In fact, his masteral thesis – The Development of an Interactive Media Program in Library and Information Science – focused specifically on that. He has also spoken at numerous seminars and workshops regarding the topic.

“Technology has always been a valuable tool in libraries and LIS teaching here and abroad. Libraries and librarians have always been using current technology-driven services to do their job,” he says. “I remember computers being used in the SLIS and the UP Main Library ever since I enrolled in UP in the 90’s, maybe even earlier.”

The prevalence of Web 2.0 technologies likes blogs and social networking sites has also provided today’s librarians an exceptionally effective way of communicating and finding out the needs of its market.

In the United States, librarians have been using microblogging sites like Twitter to announce their new acquisitions, and YouTube to provide virtual tours to its patrons. The same things are also now being done in the Philippines.

“UP Diliman in particular has the Diliman Interactive Learning Center (http://dilc.upd.edu.ph, http://updilc.multiply.com) for the whole UP community. The University Virtual Learning Environment
(uvle, http://www.uvle.up.edu.ph), has been around for quite some time. Quite recently, the IskWiki (UP Community Wiki, http://iskwiki.upd.edu.ph) was also put up,” Cabbab adds.

These changes have also made an impact on how classes are conducted: if students used to bring notebooks to class, they now bring netbooks and laptops so as to easily access today’s technology.

RIDDING OF THE HARD COPY HABIT

But getting to such a comfortable place with regards to technology has not always been an easy journey, Cabbab recalls. While he’s had his own share of technological mishaps, he says that the biggest challenge to overcome was the digital divide that exists in today’s society.

“A lot of students didn’t have net access here or at home. This has changed in the past couple of years with all the cheaper ISP packages as well as the proliferation of net cafes,” he says.

Cabbab says that the challenges that today’s net generation librarians face is one of economics and information. The continuing shift towards digitized books will be something that today’s librarians will have to address.

“While we have a web-accessible Online Public Access Catalog, more Internet access in the library, and more databases with full text and downloadable content, I really don’t know if we’ll fully be able to rid ourselves of hard copy habit,” he says. “Maybe a gradual shift from print to digital in the next couple of years would be okay, but then the problem of economics and the digital divide still comes into view.”

“On the marketing side, I would think being more familiar with webdev, RSS, CMS’es, blogs and social networking would be an edge in letting stakeholders know about current holdings
in one’s institution,” Cabbab says.