My Knowledge Portal

The School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS) Library is located at the third floor of the Main Library, Gonzalez Hall. Its primary role is to serve the needs of the faculty, students and researchers of the university. And in order to provide the services that they offer, they are using different Information Retrieval Systems (IRS) i.e. UP Integrated Library (iLib) system and the Micro-CDS/ISIS.

iLib system is an in-house developed library system of the University of the Philippines. It replaced its predecessor, the Maelissa library system last 2008 since they were having serious problems with the latter. Even in migrating their collection, one of the problems raised then was that there were some data that were lost like for instance the location of the book and the type of material. After the restoration, they were able to use up to date the iLib system. They were able to save 300$ for the maintenance fee every year and other fees such as customization fee, etc.

In addition to those advantages, one of the benefits that Mrs. Soledad Fonseca, Head Librarian of SLIS Library, mentioned is the encoding system for cataloging. She said that once she encoded this particular book or bibliographic information, the system automatically saves the record so she needs not to retype it again and again. This is also true for serial collections. Aside from this, she also added that the interface of the system is good and easy to navigate. It has more search parameters like you can search using author, title and/or subject. You may also limit your search by publication year, type of material and/or format. The use of icons and sorting features also help the users to easily identify the library materials they are looking for. Furthermore, each and every user is given an account to check if the status of the materials they borrowed and even to reserve books. If they forgot to return the books on time, the system will send an alert to the UP Webmail account of the borrower to remind him/her about her overdue book. Other features such as add cart, sending feedbacks etc. are also present in the iLib system.

Aside from this one, another information retrieval of the SLIS Library is the Micro CDS/ISIS, a UNESCO produced software package. Its main use as of now is for thesis search but unfortunately, only Ma’am Sol is the one who can navigate and use it. Its interface is not that user friendly since its using DOS and the search parameters is also poor since it uses word-based index or only keywords may be used in searching. Most of the users are not familiar with the system and nobody is teaching how to use it, not unless you’ll ask the librarians to teach you how to navigate it. By the way, Ma’am Sol is still updating the thesis collection in CDS/ISIS J since it is much easier to copy-and-paste it into the website.

Above everything else, the number one problem that Ma’am Sol raised was that when the internet is down. Since the iLib is web-based, they cannot use it for a time but since they are near the server, they can still use it using Intranet.

It was my first time then to go in Lopez Museum and Library. And I didn’t think that I would be having a hard time looking for that building along Meralco Avenue. Anyway, upon entering the building, you’ll be surprised to the small but cool and should I say “weird” collection of the Lopezes. As a matter of fact, I did try some of the collection like the sound-wave thing and the sound-producing-metal-when-scratch (I’m sorry I can’t remember the names). But those were just side dishes because the main course was not the museum, but the library.

With all honesty, the library is not that impressive. It’s just a big box full of books and a small corner for the staffs. Not so much with decorations or any mentally-stimulating and good-place-for-reading feeling factor. Perhaps this is the case of most special libraries. But then again, the place or the ambience was not the main purpose of the trip, it was their collection and their digitization project.

It was my first time to see up close and personal the process of digitization. And all I can say is that, it’s boring. Forgive me for being so rude but I can’t imagine myself flipping the page, scanning, saving, flipping the page, scanning saving (until it 5:00pm). I know and I realize the importance of digitization. It’s not only for conservation and preservation purposes but also for multiple access of a material which is fragile and rare. Thank God their equipment is not that so old school.

However, during the question and answer portion, there were some points that I really pondered on. First, their library system or the way they search for a material. I forgot the name of the system but when a researcher was using that, (he’s looking for tobacco commercial, I think) I was shocked because the presentation of the search output was too broad. There’s no provision to delimit your search or even other search parameters that’s why you need to browse almost all of the search results (haggard).Second, it is not accessible on line. For me, it defeats the purpose of digitizing your collection if you cannot access it in remote areas. Just imagine that you’re in ABS-CBN (Quezon Ave., Quezon City) and looking for a book about the Lopez collection and you have to travel to Lopez Museum (Ortigas, Pasig City) just to search! And lastly, I also found out that their collection is not properly indexed since their indexing job is also outsourced from the company they hired for the digitization project.

Well, those are just my few sentiments / constructive criticisms regarding their digitization project. Despite of all those drawbacks (since there is no perfect system) I still salute the staff of the Lopez Museum for all the effort of digitizing their collection since it is a great start of improving the conservation practices as well as the promotion of multiple access. More than this, I also give high regard to them for opening their library and sharing their expertise to us. I hope for the improvement of their collection and their project.

Citation:

Ylvisaker, C. (2010). Greening the library: collection development decision. Journal of the New Members Round Table. Vol. 1 Number 1. Retrieved October 3, 2011 http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/rts/nmrt/oversightgroups/comm/schres/endnotesvol1is1/3greeningthelibrary.pdf

Abstract

Many writes in the library literature have addressed sustainability of the collection with regard to increased prices, user need and format stability. To this list of concerns librarians should add the environmental impact of the different resources libraries choose. The article of Ylvisaker considers three facets of collection development: selection of materials whose content informs and assess green practices; de-selection processes that emphasize reusing and recycling materials; and a selection of a material format, specifically print or electronic, that honors the green dictum to reduce the carbon footprint an institution makes. The problem of reducing a library’s carbon footprint is perhaps the most complex and most contentious when it comes to the format of the collection. It is in the issue of print versus electronic resources that the present discussion of environmental sustainability will devote most of its focus.

3 Things I Learned

1. Collection development is not all about increasing the collection; we should also take into consideration green practices.

2. We could help promote a green library and green information through seminars, fora, selecting materials which contain green information, etc.

3. Weeding out of books, especially those which are worn out and outdated should not only be thrown away but should be reuse and recycle.

Application

Though we are now in the advent of fast changing technology where almost everything is introduce in ICT (Information and Communication Technology), we should not also forget that making our library “green” or making it environmentally sound institution is also a must.