That Newbie Librarian

After a wonderful time yesterday with the materials I was indexing, I noticed that I was taking too long with the task. Ma'am Judith told us that our last eight hours would be for indexing therefore I told myself that I should be more focused this time around in order to finish the task alloted to me. I prepped myself up and headed to the Main Library, dedicated to finish the work. Not to mention that I was a bit excited for the long weekend incoming.  JUNE 23, 2017 - FRIDAY All of us met at our usual spot. We were talking mostly about the SLIS Graduation today and how we all wanted to witness it but we still have internships. We headed upstairs to the Serials section and got right into it. I decided that I wouldn't be browsing anything this time and just go directly to each title page to determine whether an issue is missing or not. Some of them were while some of them had so many misplaced issues, it was hard to determine if something was lost or not.  Tricia to...

I believe that part of the reason that I transferred to this degree is that I enjoy taking a book and browsing through it to read an excerpt that will give even a brief outlook on how they have lived their lives at that time. The pictures would come alive and play the scenario they have captured inside my mind. I thought that the only section I would only experience this was the Archives which is why I am looking forward to it. I didn't know that the Serials section would provide me a similar experience.  JUNE 22, 2017 - THURSDAY Ever since I started my internship at the main library, I have decided to travel to work with my bicycle. The upside is that I get to arrive early and the travel is always pleasant. The only downside is that I arrive at work sweating heavily. The fact that the Serials section is dry and hot does not help the situation. The librarians there even suggested that we wear more comfortable clothing. I am definitely putting that into consideration. ...

I woke up today with the feeling of achievement. Finally, after a few days of working at the cataloging section, we would be finishing up our 30 hours of work at the cataloging section. After lunch time today, I have finally surpassed the section I was fearing the most, Cataloging. Even though I was very excited, I knew I should not get pumped up to finish. There are still three hours left, lots of things can happen with that span of time. I entered the cataloging section early and ready for the remaining hours. JUNE  21, 2017 - WEDNESDAY Once we settled in, we resumed with what we were doing the previous day. I recorded my last few bundles of cards from the different colleges using the same method we did before. After we both finished with our respective bundles, we arranged all of the cards alphabetically with the unit college they would be going to. It is insane to think that what we're doing right now would be sent to the different colleges.  After we finished,...

Shelflisting, as easy as it seems, can also be exhausting especially if you were doing it for the span of eight hours during how many days. I woke up that day with the feeling of excitement because finally, we would be finishing the second box given to us. I just wished that there wouldn't be a third box of card catalogs to deal with. I got up and prepared myself for the day.  JUNE 20, 2017 - TUESDAY As we head to the cataloging section, I remembered Ma'am Annie telling us before she left for KOHACON that at some point of our stay in the cataloging section, we would be given the time to catalog theses and dissertations. Since this is our last full day shift (I was pumped after remembering this fact), that should be today. I put aside all my other thoughts as we resumed the work we left yesterday.  I wanted to finish our shelflisting so badly. It is because I wanted to experience another task catalogers do in the section because it seems like we have only been shel...

I have mentioned in my previous entry how overwhelmed I was to see an entire corner of the large hall occupied by nothing but shelves. I have also spoke of how disheartening it is to see how much work we still have to do before we finish the work. I should not have spoke too soon because this day, I have lived in a world of shelves.  JUNE 19, 2017 - MONDAY Coming from the weekend, I was energized to take on any challenges this week'll throw on my way. For this day's agenda, it is the continuation of adding card catalogs to the shelflist. We got back to the routine we have became familiar of last week. Adding more to the difficulty of our work, we discovered that our groupmate Tricia along with our supervisor Ma'am Annie, would not be attending at the Cataloging Section for three days starting today until Wednesday because of the KOHACON happening at the Ayala Museum. It was just me, Edward and the rest of the catalogers for three days.  We meet again, card ...

I was definitely still not used to getting up early. After a few weeks of school break and not waking up early, I struggled getting up on my feet for the very first day, it's a good thing that I managed to power through it and prepared myself for the day.  June 16, 2017 - FRIDAY Regardless of my fear of cataloging, I was still pumped up for the day. I headed to the Main Library and saw my classmates sitting on the staircase of the entrance. We chatted up for a bit while waiting for our shifts.  Excited New Librarians? Before the strike of 8AM, we were already at the cataloging section. Ma'am Annelyn oriented us to what we should do for the day. She returned with a box full of card catalogs and told us that we would be adding cards to the shelflist. But before we do that, we must count first how many titles and cards there are per bundle. This is to record how much progress we have done everyday. After we settled in, we picked our bundles and started o...

The first day of our internship was a very much anticipated day, not only for me but for my classmates as well.  For each notification of our OJT group on Facebook, I was at the edge of my seat, waiting for that one announcement that I have been waiting for. It was a week after our LIS181 orientation when a new notification for our Facebook group popped up on my phone. Finally, it was about to begin: our journey as librarians in-training.  June 15, 2017 - THURSDAY We were asked to arrive at the UP Main Library Conference Hall by 9AM. Being the overly-excited person that I am, I have already prepped myself an hour and a half before the expected time even though it would only take me 30 minutes to arrive at the library. Everyone was at their finest outfits as we were also required to be in our formal wear for the orientation. For me, this is one of the biggest adjustments I had to make. I have never been comfortable wearing long pants and dress shirts no matter w...

There are things that have always been a part of our lives but never really understood how it got there. For me, although I am too embarrassed to admit it, it was librarians. When I was younger, I never really thought of how people become librarians. As I grew older, I learned that engineers take up engineering, dentists take up dentistry, and a whole lot of professions and their counterpart degrees. I never knew that there was a degree designated for librarians until my college days. It was surprising to discover how vast the world of library and information science is. I was very excited to enter the world of information. Fast forward two years and here I am! I took all of the core subjects of the degree and is about to begin my very first internship at the UP (University of The Philippines) Main Library! I can finally have a hands-on experience on how librarians go through their everyday. Although I have had my NSTP (National Service Training Program) class in a similar manner, th...