From Antiquity to Modernity

iSchools Lays the Cornerstone for Modernizing the Public School Library

What is a library? Is it an archaic structure that houses the life's work of literary giants and philosophers? Or is it simply a place where weary students can catnap in between classes?

These were among the questions that acted as scaffolding for the discussions during the Library Management Validation Workshop held from April 14 to 15.

The workshop's goal is to evaluate the iSchools Library Management and Information System or iLMIS software and its accompanying manual. After spending more than a year in the making of the project, the developers, manual writers, and evaluators met again to review the manual and suggest improvements.

The iLMIS is the open source eLibrary system to be introduced by the iSchools Project to all of its 1,000 public high school recipients nationwide.

The iLMIS was formed through a partnership between the iSchools Project and developers from the Laguna University under the Laguna Provincial Government through its Management Information Systems (MIS) office. The iLMIS hopes to improve library management by providing school administrators with an ICT system that simplifies and makes more efficient the process of storing, cataloging, and filing learning materials. Eventually, the system will allow materials to be shared with other school libraries within the greater iLMIS network.

The Laguna Provincial Government, through its MIS office, is mandated to develop systems and software applications for its concurrent units such as the Laguna University. After the MIS office successfully developed a Library and Management Information System (LMIS) for Laguna University, it decided to popularize and distribute said software to organizations willing to adopt it. The iSchools Project has thus adopted and promoted the LMIS to its partners nationwide.

Where will this leave librarians?

Will this digitization movement downsize and eventually eliminate librarians from the frame? Not by a long shot. This is the encouraging pronouncement of the iSchools Project.

“Librarians should see the iLMIS as a tool of empowerment. It will make them actual librarians– not just book filers,” reassures iSchools training officer Joed Alcid. “Through the iLMIS, librarians now become information managers.”

To lay the groundwork for actual software application, the project tapped manual writers from Cavite State University, Ifugao State University, and Bicol University. Quite aptly, the writers are familiar with the challenges facing librarians since they work for their university's high school libraries.

While the validation workshop is the first good nail driven in, Alcid concedes that the manual needs more hammering out. Both reviewers and writers agreed that there is a need to be more responsive to the demands of a 21st century library. Because of this, an additional chapter for computer and internet-based information and intellectual property rights will be built into the manual, just in time for polishing in the next review.

“Schools can now see that technology cannot replace librarians.” Rather, technology acts to further buttress the role of librarians. In the greater scheme of education, concludes Alcid, “technology serves to enhance, encourage, and support classroom learning.”

So, what is a library then?

According to blueprint, a library has functioned throughout history as the storehouse of knowledge that is shared. In these modern times, with the iLMIS, this knowledge can now be stored and shared beyond the physical confines of form, time, and place.