That Newbie Librarian

Librarianship is a very demanding profession. I have gathered this from spending almost a month working for the main library. It requires and asks for the dedication of a hard-working and sometimes charitable person for it to be a rewarding career. I have noticed this as I was going through the different sections of the library. Working can only get you so far, sometimes it takes the kindness of your heart to actually do something that is not in your job description for the library to operate smoothly. This would not happen if we had the capabilities to improve the working conditions of our librarians, not only in UP but also in the entire country. Librarianship has been seen through by government officials and the public. The experience I had made me realize how we desperately need another legislation that will improve the status of librarians in the professional field.  This brings me to the things I have learned as a training librarian. One of the things that I will bring a...

I woke up to the familiar scenario I have been waking up to for almost a month now. That is to wake up at four or five in the morning in order to properly prepare for the day, I arrange my belongings, fix my clothes and sometimes, cook breakfast. However, similar as it may seem, some things do change and for today, it is a big one. Today would be our last shift at the Filpiniana section and ultimately, for the internship. No more waking up very early in the morning to work for eight hours straight then go sleep directly after. That would never happen again, at least not until I'm not working.  With this in mind, I promised to myself that I would give my all and enjoy the remaining five hours of my shift. I told myself that I would not let laziness get the best of me especially on my last day. I promised to savor each moment and make all of them special.  JULY 14, 2017 - FRIDAY As we headed downstairs, no matter how many times we have already done this in the last ...

“And now, the end is near and so I face the final curtain.” For some reason I couldn’t stop singing and humming Frank Sinatra’s “My Way” as I go through the events of today. Maybe it’s because of the fact that the first lines seem to mirror what would be happening tomorrow too perfectly. Today is the first among the many lasts. It would be our final full day shift as tomorrow, we could opt to leave at 2:00 PM as we would already have fulfilled the requirement by that time. Just two more days to go, I can definitely power through these.  JULY 13, 2017 – THURSDAY We began our shift with the usual routine, we sign in and prepare ourselves for the hours to come. At the beginning of the day, I was tasked to continue indexing the book of poems I mentioned yesterday. It was quite tedious to go through all of them but it was also fun at the same time as I could get to look at the works of Filipino overseas workers. I was able to finish this after two hours and then I picked up ano...

The end of our internship is almost here. I couldn’t believe that after weeks and weeks of waking up at 5AM and working for at least eight hours, all of those would soon be over. But before I get completely ahead of myself, I need to deal with the remaining three days I still have to commit to. It was a good thing we were at the Filipiniana for our final shift because it didn’t felt as difficult as the previous sections were. I honestly pity my friends who are at the cataloging for their final station. Let’s disregard them for a while as I also have things to deal with. JULY 12, 2017 – WEDNESDAY As the days get nearer, I become more and more excited to go to work and finish the remaining hours. Before 8AM, we were already downstairs at the Filipiniana to begin with our shift. For our very first task, we were oriented to their indexing process. It was quite easy: we were supposed to copy the cataloging details of a book and edit it to a specific format followed by adding a t...

As the final days of our OJT draws near, I couldn't help but be sentimental over the smallest details during this week. Of course, there is the fact that this would be our last Tuesday but what really struck me was that today we would be moving on to our final station. After our stay at the Filipiniana station, we would be done. No more getting excited over what station we would be going to next. I have to say, looking forward to the next station was part of the fun during our OJT. However, all good things must come to an end and that includes our internship. It was today that it really struck me: this is the beginning of the end.  JULY 11, 2017 - TUESDAY  Even though we had already committed at least 24 hours to the ISAIS, we still had an hour left for work. It was during this final hour that I discovered that one of the books I have cataloged had suddenly disappeared from the iLib record. I immediately went into a panic and hurried to catalog again my missing record...

The very moment I woke up, a smile drew itself upon my face as I began to realize the implications of today being a Monday. First of all, this is our last day in the ISAIS which means that tomorrow we would be moving on to our very last station. Second, this is the last Monday that we would be having a shift, third and most importantly, this commences the last week of our internship. After this Friday, we would be finished with the requirement and we would have a week-off to enjoy the remaining days of vacation. I got up to prepare myself for the incoming final week. JULY 10, 2017 - MONDAY After today, we would be completing at least 24 hours of service to the ISAIS meaning we only have an hour left tomorrow. I headed to the section where Edward and I decided that we would once again split the day manning the information desk; he would be manning it during the AM shift and I would sit there for the afternoon. While he was doing his work for the day, I spent the morning catchin...

After my nearly heart-stopping experience at the Archives reference (Okay, maybe that was an exaggeration), I thought that the days of having to interact with users would be over but, as I have been told to lately, not everything we hope for comes true. That was proven once again when I had to man the information desk of the ISAIS and answer queries this afternoon but since I have already experienced this before at the Archives desk, I’m a little less terrified. Besides, I still have a couple of electronic books to catalog, I would just take my time doing these as I was already done with encoding to the LibraryThing website.  JULY 07, 2017 – FRIDAY Once I have prepared for work, I headed to our station with one realization: this time next week would be my last day for our internship. Upon the discovery of this fact, I was energized to start the day in order to finish this immediately. I resumed at my spot – in front of the computer – in order to begin what I have left unca...

As we close the chapter of the archives, another one opens its door for us to enter into, the ISAIS. In my opinion, all of the students are familiar with this section as this is the place most visited. As a library user, I always enjoyed my time at this section because I get to use the computer or just the internet, I can also charge my phone and even browse through a couple of books. Generally, this area is a lot of fun for me.  But now that I am about to work here, my perspective is about to turn upside down. JULY 07, 2017 - THURSDAY Our group headed to the ISAIS before the clock strikes 8AM. It was comforting to see Ma'am Chiarra as she was the only person that I recognize from all of the workers of this section. She gave us a quick rundown of how things are going to go in this section. Let me just tell you that after being given the list of requirements, my head seemed to hurt as I read through all of them. I calmed myself and hoped that it would be Monday already, the last...

It was back again! The same feeling of excitement I had when I was browsing through the magazines at the Serials section. Even if I only had a whiff, more specifically, two hours, of how it feels like to be an archivist at the University Records, it was enough to make my heart skip and my lips smile. Today is sort of bittersweet as I would be enjoying my day with the records as it is also my last day at the archives.  JULY 05, 2017 - WEDNESDAY Upon entering the premises, I was greeted by a figure I haven't mentioned before, he is an intern as well although not from our class. I have seen him before at the reference and now, it looks like he would be joining me in the records. We decided to divide a box's contents for the two of us. Once this has been settled, we put on our gloves and mask then resumed working.  I can't gloss over enough how happy I was at this section. Looking from the outside, you would see a mundane sight of a guy sorting papers and removing ...

It does take a lot of courage to be able to speak to and address the needs of so many people. Yesterday, I was able to have a real taste of what it is like to work in the reference of the archives. As my previous journal entry have stated, it is not something that I feel comfortable doing but after being able to help someone, you feel accomplishment that keeps you going. Now that I am on my final stretch of my reference work, I just hope I do not mess anything up and be able to deal with other people’s needs.  JULY 04, 2017 - TUESDAY After my usual routine in the morning, I arrived at the archives looking worn out and sweaty as usual. I fixed myself up and sat at the desk to wait for any requests. Let’s just say that the morning shift was very quiet. It wasn’t uneventful because I managed to answer a few phone calls and return some of the borrowed materials to their original shelves but after yesterday’s crazy influx of request, today was slower. After our lunchbreak, I re...

After an uneventful day of flipping the pages and scanning it, I was looking forward to the next area of the archives. I was dying to know what area would I be assigned this time as I am about to finish two of them, there would only be two left. I shouldn't worry about this yet though because I still have four hours left in the AIL. JULY 03, 2017 - MONDAY Each time I come back to the archives, I am excited for another experience yet to come. I made sure to arrive on time even if I had slept a little late the previous night. I returned to what have been my station for two days and resumed the work I have left off. I am still halfway done off my final book. I immediately went to the necessary software to begin my work. Just A Few More Flipping Through As I flip and scan through the pages of what seems to be the final book for my shift, I was thinking back on how much of these books I have scanned. I felt accomplished after being able to scan four AILs by 11AM of tha...

Even when I was thinking of what to write for today’s entry, I was already expecting this sort of problem to arise. Today was uneventful. There, I said it. Don’t get me wrong, it was still productive because I was able to accomplish a lot but it was the same steps over and over. Nevermind, I will still try to tell an interesting story of what happened today even if it is repetitive.  JUNE 30, 2017 - FRIDAY Yes! Final day of the week and of the month, if I may add. It would already be July the next time I come through these doors. I immediately headed to the computers to turn it on, set up my things and begin scanning. Doing the same steps over and over again can get boring, I would flip a page, press it down the machine, verify if it is readable and then scan it. Imagine doing these steps a thousand more times and you would feel what I am feeling at that moment. It wasn’t hard or anything, it was just getting boring.  Making Sure Things Are Alright I did manage ...

After a wonderful time at the bindery, spending the whole day going through the process of giving a book a newer and better look, I wondered if the other sections of the archives would be just as fun as the bindery. I figured I would just let things roll out as they would and experience working at all the sections before deciding for myself, also, I still have half a day at the bindery. I could enjoy my time working there. Another day at the archives is just about to begin. JUNE 29, 2017 -THURSDAY I went straight ahead to the bindery where I found the books I was working on to be at the exact same spot where I left them. I organized all of the books and Sir Lem guided me to what I believe is the best part of the bindery and perhaps even the entire internship. He provided me instructions on how to use the machinery that creates the lettering of the book covers. It was a beautiful machine that operates similar to a press where you can adjust letters to create the sentences you w...

One of the reasons I was looking forward to our shift at the Archives is because I recently took LIS170 as an elective and I wanted to experience personally how an archives operate. Today was our first day at the archives which is why I was really excited to get up early and prepare. After all of my usual morning routine, I headed to the main library with anticipation for the incoming hours.  June 28, 2017 - WEDNESDAY After ascending to the third floor, our group headed to the UPiana section where our adventure begins. Right off the bat, we were told that we would all be separated to different areas of the archives. We were given four options and I immediately called dibs on the bindery.  Let me explain myself, after hearing from our classmates stories about the things they have done at the bindery, I couldn’t help but be excited of trying it on my own. Something about manual work and being able to use the tools the employees use, was more than enough for me to de...

After three days of vacation, I honestly forgot how hard it was to work for five days straight. I felt completely energized and ready for the new week to come. With this in mind, I prepared for the day and headed to the Serials section. I was excited because today would be our last day in this section and we would be moving on to the archives the next day. JUNE 27, 2017 - TUESDAY I resumed the work I have left the week before. Today, we would be making the entire 25 hours we are required of by 1:00 PM. We were planning on leaving by 2:00 PM as we have other things to do as well. We made sure to greet everyone before turning on the computers, setting up the IPP website and indexing the final article of the magazine I have left. Once I finished it, I took more magazines to index. Browsing through the magazines and looking for index-able articles was the fun part of indexing because I get to read about interesting things while looking. I mostly indexed the Philippine Graphics mag...

In case you haven't noticed, I stopped posting for I think over a week. It wasn't because of any serious reasons so you can ease your minds and it's not because I was lazy to make an entry. The reason was simple and it deeply frustrated me for a while... Our internet connection had a problem!  For how many days, we have been contacting our provider about our situation because our connection went down after a strong thunderstorm last week. Even if we hadn't had internet for days, I still managed to write it down on a word document, that way I can simply upload it when the time comes that our connection becomes fixed. That time is today! So I'll be constantly uploading the days that I have missed out on. Sorry for any inconvenience. :D Stay tuned and keep reading! - Sam, That New Librarian