DAY 21: At Last, We're Librarians

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 three days, these final times doesn't feel like any of the other times. We all promised to give our all for today. As soon as we logged in for the day, we immediately got busy. Edward began indexing and sat down while Tricia was covering a book and I was shelving. We seemed like a well-oiled machine because we were able to help each other out whenever we need it. If there is one more thing I can thank for because of the internship, it is that we learned more about each other.

After shelving at least 40 books, I returned to the table to help Tricia with covering books. Look, I'm not the greatest guy for this job. I even ask someone else to cover my books for me because I am afraid I am going to mess this up but I want to help and most importantly, I want to learn which is why I watched Ma'am Rhea yesterday teach us how to cover books and today, I can proudly say that I am getting slightly better.

While we were covering books, we were asked to do different tasks. While Tricia was manning the control desk, Edward and I were moving shelves-length pile of books to newer shelves. As easy as this might look like, it proved to be very tiring as we were almost beaten up after moving an entire hallway of books to another location. We took one final break as we talk about what we would after the internship. Upon returning, Edward resumed with paging books while Tricia and I went on to continue covering books until the end of our morning shift. 

Only one more hour left! I was filled with excitement and enthusiasm over the lunch break as we were almost over. I didn't eat but I joined my classmates as they were having lunch and chatting. I plan to eat after our shift is over. As cheesy as this may sound, I will miss these lunches that we have been doing for weeks now. But I have to face the reality that along with the requirement being complete, some things have to be over too. 

As we return for the final hour, we can't help but be ecstatic. In less than an hour, we would be free of responsibilities even if it's only for a week. I resumed with covering books while the two were also doing their last tasks. For the final time, Ma'am Reslyn asked me to bring preservation copies of books inside their working station. It's weird how even the hard work I was disliking for weeks now, I feel I would still miss it. By 2:00 PM, we were officially done with our shift, but I still wasn't with my final book. After a few minutes, I was finished! The next thing to do now is handle our evaluation form and monitoring form. At the monitoring form, we were supposed to write down our contributions for each day. It was a good thing, I was keeping track of it that is why it was easy for me to simply write it down. After we passed our papers to Sir Rhoel and saying farewell to our mentors. I can only say this: It is now finished. We are now librarians. 

The Best Group Ever!

After going through all of the stations, all of the mentors, and of course, all of the work. I feel like we already have a feel of what is like to work as a librarian. This has been not only a learning experience for us in terms of knowledge but also of self-growth. I came to understand myself more and what parts of this profession I love and do not love. At the end of the day, we have still surpassed it and we are now almost librarians! Just waiting for that diploma and license. 

Let's just say I am excited to spend a week off for myself!

PS. Surprise! This is not the last entry for this blog. I will still write down what I learned ultimately from my experiences and my thoughts and reflections about the profession and about myself. In other words, definitely stay tuned!