It's Friday afternoon and tomorrow we're going to the beach!!! So technically, my brain has already shut down since 3pm today.  

Since I've given up working and trying to work out my section's staffing pattern, I decided to play this "game.  I loaded all of my songs on my player, shuffled the list and pressed play.  I'll explain why the following are in my playlist:




<--Ketama.

• "You're an Ocean" by Fastball.  Waaay before pirated discs were 3 for 100 in Quiapo, I got this compilation of hits from 2000 in UP for the (then) unbelievable low price of P100.  It had its own jewel case and around 20 tracks of post grunge alternative rock. This was one of them.
• "They're on to me" by Ari Hest.  A friend (Rina) shared Ari Hest's music with me (and some other online friends).  Ari is a musician from New York who's been doing the rounds in the early '00 and a couple of years ago was signed up by Columbia.  I love his kinda gravelly voice.  Plus he plays the guitar well.  He's handsome too, John Mayer has nothing on him -- looks-wise.
• "It Keeps You Runnin'" by The Doobie Brothers.  One of the better known tracks of this great 80's band.  Fans would argue that since Michael McDonald came along, the band became more white-collar/mainstream/commercial.  I don't care. I love them.  BTY, Kate Obille lent me his hubby's CD so I can burn my own copy. yay!!!
• "Homesick" by Kings of Convenience.  Pedi introduced me to this band a couple of years ago when we saw a band with similar music perfrom in Mag:Net.  They sound good, kinda sounds like Simon & Garfunkel, and the band doesn't deny that they were influenced by aforementioned band.
• "Stuck with you" by Huey Lewis and the News.  Way before we had this "Death by 80's Nostalgia", i've always loved Huey Lewis.  This is one of my favorite songs, I'm seriously thinking of having this in my "wedding songs" playlist. :D
• "Bubbly" by Colby Callait.  I should like this song.  But I don't.  But it's in my list --  so what?
• "Gitana Te Quiero" (Gypsy Girl, I love You) by Camaron de la Isla & Niña Pastori.  I learned to love flamenco while living in Madrid.  A colleague in the archivo by the name of Encarna lent me her daughter's Ketama CD, that opened the floodgates of Flamenco for me.
• "Cosas de Boemio" by Carlos Bivar.  Loving all things Brazilian and Bossa, this isn't really a surprise, no?
• "Born to be Wild" by Steppenwolf.  Probably any guy who ever rode a Harley imagined himself driving down the highway with this playing in the background.  Classic.
• "Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin.  The drums in the intro is sure to get you fired up.  I loved it when Snow White (in Shrek III) summoned all creatures of the forest with this in the background).
• "Besos" by El Canto del Loco.  Spanish band, spanish rock. Good sound, but typical of college/alternative rock bands, in any language.
• "Hold On" by Neocolours.  Ito Rapadas was my boyfriend.  I was just in-love with him. hahaha!!!  It was only a couple of weeks ago when a friend told me that he went to UP in the early 90's.  dammit, when they hit it big, I was still in elementary -- but I wan't immune to his charms.  I positively adored him and would watch any noontime show on TV that had them as guests.
• "Say It Isn't So" by Hall and Oates.  Again, another 80's band that I truly love.  And again, thanks to Kate O. for lending me his hubby's disc.:)
• "Ao teu lado" (by your side?) by Julio Pepe e Alessandra LaLucce.  If only I could understand the lyrics, Bossa would be doubly nice!
• "Aint no sunshine" by Bill Withers.  Sad, melancholic, love it.
• "Luna" by Juanes.  Haaay, what can I say? Gorgeous Spanish rocker/songwriter with a nice chest and ass.  Going to a Spanish bar and not hear Juanes anytime during the night means you're not in España.
• "Se Dejaba llevar por ti" by Ketama.  a track from the CD Encarna lent to me.  it's an idiomatic expression, which means something like, i left it all for you (kinda need a little help here...)
• "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac.  One of those songs that makes me realize that growing up (literally and figuratively) isn't all that it's cracked up to be.
• "Only Wanna be With You" by Hootie and the Blowfish.  I think I was in high-school when I first heard them, but i was in love then with the Eraserheads so foreign bands sort of took the back seat.  I learned to re-appreciate them in college.
• "Heartfixer" by DePhazz.  I went through a trip-hop phase a couple of years ago and just started listening to all of those trip hop bands (Air, Lamb, Portishead).  This was one of the more commercial and easily recognizable triphop tracks.
• "Mira La Chica" (Look at the Girl) by Gipsy Kings.  Listening to them makes me imagine of parties in the backyard with the slabs of beef on the grill, beers in the cooler and being barefoot in the grass.  nice.
• "Sharing the night together"  by Dr. Hook.  70's groove music.  Kinda gets you in the mood to, uhm, get it on. hehehe
• "Loko" by Ketama.  Again, another flamenco-fusion track from them. I just can't get enough of Ketama!:D
• "Safe from Harm" by Massive Attack.  Another trip-hop track from that trip-hop phase.
• "Tulog Na" by Sugar Free. Lullaby song.:) -- or see reason for Dr. Hook.:D
• "Desafinado" by Quarteto Jobim Morelenbaum.  A bossa classic by one of the sons of Tom Jobim and his band.
• "Yo no sé" by Los Amigos Invisibles.  A Venezuelan dance band that has been hitting the clubs from Caracas to Madrid to NYC.  I would love to see them perform.
• "Wonderful" by Adam Ant.  A classic song of yearning, missing and longing...with a more uppity beat to it.  I especially love the chorus "Did I tell you you're wonderful? I miss you, yes I do!"

Well kids, that's it for now.  I'm kinda tired and I hear the beach calling me!

De veras, ya estoy harta de todas las investigaciónes sobre los artistas/científicos nacionales.  Joder, hemos estado compilando todos los datos y fuentes sobre ellos esos últimos meses y esto es lo que acaban de hacer????  Tengo el sentimiento que ellos nunca han leido lo que compilamos.  Cuando vieron las fuentes que reunimos, se perdieron las ganas y buscaron en la linea en vez de leer los fuentes.

Por Diós...

Kasey Keller, an American football player who plays for EPL’s Fulham, wrote the article about Kaká.  For the past few years, since he began playing for AC Milan, he has garnered recognition both in and out of the football field.  Known for his clinical and cerebral technique, he has been awarded in 2007 FIFA’s Player of the Year, European Player of the Year and in polls conducted in Italy and in Europe, consistently lands as the Top Football player.  To read full article, click here.

What struck Keller more was Kaká’s outright and obvious religiosity.  Not one to keep his faith private, Kaká would point to the heavens whenever he would score a goal – Jesus’ made his goal possible.  One of his most famous photos is him on his knees, wearing a shirt printed with “I Belong to Jesus”, after clinching the UEFA Cup in Athens against Liverpool.

Diego Maradona (and other athletes who have gone the wayward path) would do well to follow his example and put their talents and time to good use.  

I know i should be resting my eyes, but apparently sore eyes (or pink eye, conjunctivitis, etc) will not deter me from seeing this.  I'm keeling over in laughter, my side hurts....

Technically, I should be preparing for my big report in LIS261 on tuesday, but the operative word is should (or technically? help me out here).  Which means i'll probably be doing it at 10pm monday night. haha

Yes, I was one of the 8 people in the world who have not see this video yet...and now there are seven...

To those of you who saw and liked I Am Legend, i think you'll be interested with this alternative ending which WB decided was not quite "pang-masa" enough...

Noel first posted this, but the video from the site he linked was broken (or taken away?)/  I think WB are chasing down these sites, so better watch it before they get to it...:)

I am not a big fan of the dystopian genre (whether in books or film), but this movie got me interested in Richard Matheson's works.  I am actually on the look out for the book, which was published in the 1950s (hint hint -- Si Sir Igor kaya meron nito???).  According to those who have read the book, although some aspects in the film were changed (locale, protagonist's profession, cause of human extinction, etc.), the protagonist's feelings of loneliness, anxiety, fear and anger are still there, albeit with not enough gravitas to actually make the viewers empathize with Robert Neville as in the book.  Que va, I wanna get my hands on the book -- a summer reading requirement for me. :D

This movie haunted me for weeks after seeing it, i even dreamt about it a couple of times.  The funny thing about it was that the dream was not as scary as I thought it should be.  Maybe because the thought of being the last woman on earth sort of appeals to me -- as long as there are no vampires to haunt me at night...

nope, not the one from China...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm a Mandarin!

You're an intellectual, and you've worked hard to get where you are now.  You're a strong believer in education, and you think many of the world's problems could be solved if people were more informed and more rational.  You have no tolerance for sloppy or lazy thinking.  It frustrates you when people who are ignorant or dishonest rise to positions of power.  You believe that people can make a difference in the world, and you're determined to try.

Talent: 44%
Lifer: 33%
Mandarin: 62%

Take the Talent, Lifer, or Mandarin quiz.

Okay, so that’s stretching the truth out a bit.  Jowa, my roommate, is THE Jologs Trivia Winner.  Last night for UP Ipil Dorm Week, we (Jowa, Filams, Joanne and I) were the pambato of the East 2 Ladies’ Wing for the Ipilympics Quiz Bee.  There were three levels (Easy, Average, Difficult) and it was a mixture of Serious and Jologs questions. She will probably kill me for writing this, but my dear roommate, look at it this way: you are the epitome of a well-rounded, knowledgeable and smart UP student. hahaha  Who else can answer the following questions and maintain a straight face:

1.      Saang teleserye unang lumabas si Piolo Pascual?

2.      Sino ang gumanap na Madonna sa peliculang, Madonna ang Babaeng Ahas

3.      Ano ang pangalan ng carácter ni Judy Ann Santos sa TV Show na Gimik?

4.      Saang commercial unang  lumabas si Katya Santos? <-- we got this wrong.  Hello??? Care naming kay Katya! The guys got it right of course.

5.      Ano ang pangalan ng grupong pinanggalingan ni Wowie de Guzman? <-- the undergrads protested.  Wala pa daw silang muwang nung sumikat ito…

6.      Ano ang kauna-unahang fantaserye na pinalabas sa Phil. Televisión? <-- One group answered Okay ka Fairy Ko, and it could have been right, but it was a sit-com, not a fantaserye, which means it has to be shown daily.

7.      Sino ang partner ni Claudine Baretto sa telenovelang Sa Dulo ng Walang Hanggan?

    The serious questions were, honestly not so serious.  I’m sure a lot of you can get the answers right without being given choices.  Here are some of them (answers are at the end):

1.      Who said, The end justifies the means? ßHis work was the only one in our SocSci2 class that I really enjoyed.  The rest, (Thomas Hobbes, Marx, et al), bored me to death.

2.      Who wrote the Communist Manifesto?  ßthis was quite tricky, we only wrote one of them, because it’s a well accepted fact that the other one admitted that the work was essentially the former’s.

3.      What is the √-144? ß Thank God for Filams (math prof in UP Iloilo) and Joanne (Engineer from PNOC). 

4.      In Revelations, how many seals have to be opened before Judgment Day? ß it was a guess, but knowing the Bible, it was only 2 numbers to choose from.

5.      Where can you find the oldest university?

6.      Aside from money, what else did the Roman soldiers receive as part of their remuneration?

7.      What is UP’s motto? ßclue: nasa bluebook.:D

 I cannot, for the life of me, remember the others.   But if you can answer the following question, Jologs ka talaga!!!!

8.         Sino ang ka-love team ni Smokey Manoloto sa That’s Entertainment? <-- i remember the girl's name, but I could not remember her last name.  I'm sure i even misspelled her name.

 Here are the Answers:

Jologs Questions (which we all got, thanks to Jowa, except for # 4):

1. Esperanza <-- according to Jowa, he appeared near the end of the serye. I don’t even know who were the stars of this show!
2. Snooky Serna <-- again, answered by Jowa.  Buhay ka na ba nito??? Alam ko lang sya yung nasa Blusang Itim.  Hahaha!!!
3. Dianne <-- sorry, TGIF ang alam ko e.  Jowa got it right.  I didn’t even know that Judy Ann was in this show.
4. Bear Brand Milk. <--I’m sure she was not the one who said, “Is that you Lolo?”
5. Universal Motion Dancers <-- Hahaha!!! Alam naming lahat ito!  That was how pervasive their presence was. 
6. Marina <-- ito ba yung kay Claudine na mala-jezebel?
7. Carlos Agassi <-- Yes, at one point, he had his own show.

 

Serious Questions:

1. Niccolo Machiavelli
2. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
3. 12i
4. 7 (the other number being 40,  but it was too much)
5. Paris.  <-- It was choice among the following cities: London, Berlin, Alcalá de Henares (in the province of Madrid) and Milan.  We got it right, BTW. I knew it wasn't Alcala because Univ de Salamanca is older.
6. Salt.  That’s where the word salary comes from.  
7. Honor Excellence.  

     It was fun, by the end of the night, we were way ahead of the others, we got 120pts, while then next highest was a measly 107.  hahaha ang yabang!  Maybe I should write the next set of jologs questions.  It was mainly from ABSCBN and mostly teleseryes.   If it were me, I’d ask the following questions:

1. Saang pelicula nagka-tambal si Miguel Rodriguez at Sharon Cuneta?
2. Sino ang gumanap na Tita Minerva sa Palibhasa Lalake?
3. Ano ang ibig sabihin ng T.O.D.A.S. na isang gag-show sa Channel 13 noong 70s-early 80’s?
4. Sinong beauty queen/actress ang nagpasikat ng linyang ito, “I can feel it!”
5. Sino ang writer/singer ng closing song ng afternoon soap na Valiente?
6. Sa PBA, sino ang tinatawag na El Presidente?
7. Saang radio station unang narinig ang Love Notes?
   

So easy isn’t it?  Not if you were born after the 1986 EDSA Revolution! Hahaha

Here are the answers, in case you were hiding under a rock (or in denial. Huuuus, kunyari pa! Sinong niloloko mo?:D)

1. To Love Again.
2. Gloria Romero
3. Television's Outrageously Delightful All-Star Show
4. Alice Dixon
5. Vic Sotto <-- The song is played at the end of the show.
6. Ramon Fernandez
7. Magic 89.9

Oh, and btw, if you can answer Smokey Manaloto's ka-love team without having to google it,  You are a genius.  i am kidding of course. hahaha

This was originally written by Aaron J. Enright, for McSweeney’s Internet Tendency (www.mcsweeneys.net), a site with its own brand of humor (more akin to Frasier and New Yorker than SNL).  Some I got, but some left me with “huh?”, but 100% funny.  I also decided to add my own terms to this one, feel free to add your own. :D

Access point

Authority control

Broad classification

Closed stacks

Coextensive subject entry

Collocation

Colon classification

Cutter number

Date stamp

Depth indexing

Descriptor

Dewey

EAD header

Exhaustivity

Full entry

Information package

Location device

Main entry

MARC record

Open stacks

Scope note

Subject entry

Subject heading

Surrogate record

Syndetic structure

Technical service

Title entry

Tracing

Union catalog

User file

Vertical file

Warwick framework

Weeding

Work mark

 

Addenda:

Add-on

Circulation

Compression

Explorer

Hardcopy

Heading

Holdings

Jobber

Open Access

Stemming

Unzipping

Zipping

Information and communication technology (ICT) continues to be one of the main drivers of change in this modern time. The world has become a huge web of networking communities and information use and exchange have taken huge leaps. The current developments in ICT such as the introduction of Web 2.0 are now shaping the face of the web environment. Web 2.0’s features and architecture is now becoming the trend in the design of information and networking systems in the web.

Our knowledge in this new development would be beneficial in ensuring that our work and capacities as librarians and information professionals/specialists will remain relevant in this era of ever- evolving technological paradigm.

Registration fee (inclusive of certificates and snacks is P200 (non-UPLSAA members), P100 (UPLSAA members and graduate students), P50 (undergrad students).

For inquiries, call Eimee Lagrama, 9818500 loc. 2860, or Carina Samaniego, 4265932.  You may also visit our website: www.uplsaa.org. 

It was quite a surprise for me to find that my previous post about my great responsibility here in the library made it to the list of 2007’s Best Carnival of the Infosciences blog (if you don't know what it is, click here).  I'd like to say (at the risk of sounding like an Oscar Award recipient), it was flattering to get this recognition from my peers.

It was quite funny that in another blog, I was called a he, and was mistaken for Sir Igor.  I was the one that she was referring to when she says that, " his great responsibility doesn't come with great powers as Hiro's does, but he believes in fulfilling his responsibility to the best of his ability."  maybe Sir Igor had something to do with this because I don’t remember submitting this entry… akala tuloy ako si Igor, that’s why when you click on his name it’s directed to my multiply site. Hehehe  Pa-girl na nga ako sa picture ko e! 

I hope this would encourage me and my other colleagues to write more about the profession, and let the world know what librarians are really like.

Apropos to Scott Garceau's column at the Philippine Star this weekend, I have decided to drop a few words from my vocabulary, as well as make other people use the following less frequently (and eventually drop it from their vocabulary as well...):

• Actually.  I am guilty of using this word as a crutch-word, usually to buy myself time before I respond to a question.  In the proper context, it's all right to use this word -- occassionaly, but to begin sentences with actually is not a good exercise.  That's why I'm looking for a new crutch word...hahaha! kidding.  I heard myself doing this and it annoyed me so much I vowed to use this word sparingly.

• In Fairness.  Most of the time said in a sing-song voice; I myself do not use this term because it sounds so contrived and insincere.  If I want to give an objective view (sort of) of a person or a situation I have just affronted, I say "to be fair" or "on the other hand".  When i hear someone say this, I say,"May multa na daw ang magsalita ng in fairness ngayon." 

• Ano/Kwan.  I can't understand, for the life of me, how some people manage to understand each other with just, "Kunin mo yung kwan sa ibabaw ng ano."  Say what?  I have an officemate who punctuates her sentences with ano, and I have a hard time understanding her.  I make it a point to ask her, "ang alin?" whenever she says "ano".  Now, when we talk, she might take more time to gather her thoughts and pick which word to use, but at least she doesn't use "ano/kwan" that much

There. Actually, it was a relief to get it out of my system.  In fairness, it was a pretty short list.   Now let me go back to my ano and finish my kwan.

The UP Library Science Alumni Association (UPLSAA) is pleased to announce that we will have a lecture titled The ABC’s of Metadata on 30 January 2008, 1pm at the School of Library and Information Science, University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman. Our speaker will be Mr. Chito N. Angeles, Information Technology Officer of the University Library of UP Diliman and a Senior Lecturer at the School of Library and Information Studies.

   This lecture is designed to introduce participants to the fundamentals of metadata and its implications to their profession. The speaker will demonstrate how it can be applied to the library setting and provide examples for its effective implementation.

  We are inviting library managers, librarians who are in charge of data management, web content managers, information professionals, library science students and those who are interested in metadata to attend this lecture.

Registration fee (inclusive of certificate, snacks and hand-outs) for the lecture is only P300.00 for Non-UPLSAA members, P250.00 for UPLSAA members and P100 for students.

If you have any questions, you may contact any UPLSAA officers, whose numbers and details are listed at left. You may also visit our website at www.uplsaa.org.

We hope to see you there.

   I have attended enough UP pep rallies and other UP events to notice that not all of us sing UP Naming Mahal the same way.  

  When I was a freshie, our block handler told us that the right way to sing it was to raise your LEFT fist in the air, and strongly pump your fist only at Mabuhay ang pag-asa ng bayan, mabuhay ang pag-asa ng bayan.  Why the left? The explanation given was because the UP has always been left-leaning, and to signify our non-alignment with the establishment (*sigh* youthful petulance? idealism? -- that's another matter).  One professor (I forgot his name) said that the UP rally scene in the movie Dekada ’70 is not entirely correct because the rallyists lifted their right fists while singing the UP Anthem. You only pump your fist at the last two lines to drive home the pag-asa ng bayan point.  My high-school classmates who went to UPLB and my batch-mates at the Institute were also taught the same thing.

   But judging from the past UP events, it appears that there are no steadfast rules on how to sing UP Naming Mahal. Or perhaps, the symbolism that formerly accompanied the UP Naming Mahal are totally lost on the succeeding generations; if it’s so, then it is just sad.  Former UP tibaks still have a lot to teach us young ’uns.  But it could be that the  variations are as diverse as the members of the UP Community itself.  Whatever the case, I will continue to sing it the way I was taught, left fist in the air, conviction in my voice, especially in the part Mabuhay ang pag-asa ng bayan, Mabuhay ang pag-asa ng bayan!

Do I need to say more???

Love him, love him, love him. 

click here to read the article :)

at least my hair can. :p  But oh, the pitfalls of following my feminine whims and all that self-pampering ideas that got into my head.  You see, it has been a while since I had short hair. And by that I mean, above-the -shoulder-short.  The only reason why it grew so long in España was because a haircut is 15Euros.  That's already equivalent to either a 1/2 month worth of abono, 15 glasses of beer, 5 packs of ciggies or a nice blouse in Zara or Sfera.  Priorities, man...

When I got back, everyone thought i looked better with longer hair...but that was two years ago.  I´ve long gotten used to how my hair looks.  Long hair means it takes me 10 minutes to shampoo and condition, plus half an hour to dry.  Not to mention the amount of shampoo I use regularly.  In short, I simply got tired of it.

So, two weeks ago, I went to my neighborhood salon and had it cut by the neighborhood beautician.  Not wanting to have too drastic a change, I told him (or her?) to layer my hair just a couple of inches near the shoulder.  But after two days, I looked myself in the mirror and I looked tired and unkempt with my 90's Jennifer Aniston hair.  It didn't suit me at all.   So I went back and told him to cut it until it reached above the shoulder.  And whaddyaknow!!!! I loved it!  Everyone said I looked younger, plus think of all the shampoos and conditioner I'll save!

The novelty of my new hair wore off a week ago when I remembered one of the things I hated about it.  My hair was so (to use local parlance) buhaghag/maalsa.  If I blowdry it, it'll pouf even more.  When a friend of mine got married, my sister ironed my hair and it was so nice and bouncy, that's when the idea of relaxing it finally entered my head.  My friends and my sister all told me about it before, but i never took them seriously because 1)i was too cheap to spend so much on my hair, 2)I was scared on what it'll do to my hair, and 3) I don't think I can survive that long in a salon chair.

Well whaddyaknow.  I finally got it realaxed!  I did spend so much on my hair, but I couldn´t relax!  Well, at least I can say my hair is, but knowing how cheap I am, I am rueing the day it happened.  My 4-year old cousin Abby´s remark, "Wow!!!! Ang ganda ng hair mo Ate!!!!" did nothing to appease my woe.  Now it´s flat against my head, I looked like I´ve been doused by happy citizens during the Fiesta de San Juan (you know, where they throw water at people).  It´s shiny alright, but it looks limp and dead.  I missed how my hair had this little wave near the end, never mind that it normally has a mind of its own.  

I´m telling everyone I´ll have to skip gift giving this year.  I spent it all on my head.  Sorry guys, probably next year, unless i change my mind about liposuction. hahaha!!!!

We, the UP Library Science Alumni Association Executive Board 2007-08 is involved in a lot of outreach programs right now (please visit our website, www.uplsaa.org  if you'd like to know more).  Our latest project is helping the Rotary Club of Marikina establish a community library tentatively named the Alternative Learning School, whose main clients are out of school youths and adults.  Aside from the library, they also offer adult education classes and review classes for users who will take the High School Equivalency Test given by the Department of Education.   We recently finished training the library volunteers so they can manage the community library.  We signed the MOA between the UPLSAA, Rotary Club of Marikina and Rotaract a month ago.

We are now asking for your help.  If you have any old books (text books, reference books, fiction, etc.) or magazines (National Geographic, Reader's Digest, Newsbreak, Time, Newsweek, etc.) that you'd like to donate, please PM me or send me an email. If you need an official letter to formalize the request to your institution, let us know and we'll send you one immediately.

We hope you can help us.  Your donations will help make a difference to the youth and adults who use the library.  You can help them create a better future.

Hello all,

Greetings fellow Pinoy Librarians!

We will be releasing UPLSAA newsletter (online version) this month. This year, the board decided to release just the online version of the newsletter for environmental and financial reasons. Doing so will allow us to save on publishing and mailing costs, and it will be easier on the trees. It will also allow us to release the newsletter more often (should the need arise), plus we'll have a wider reach if we just published online.

Rest assured that it will still be the same newsletter (but I'd like to think it's even better) because now, we are not hampered by page and postage limitations. We believe that this change is for the better both economically and environmentally.

Anyway, if you would like to have your personal and/or professional updates included in our upcoming issue (new graduates, new job, promotion, change of civil status, delivered a paper, published a scholarly article, received a grant/scholarship) please email us right away with the pertinent information. Please also include your full name, degree and year of graduation from the Institute so we can update our directory (sorry, us old-timers still refer to SLIS as the
Institute).

You may email your updates to us:
Eimee Lagrama (Pres) - emang796@yahoo. com
Troy Lacsamana (PRO) - troybdude@yahoo. com

Please send it on or before Sunday, 18 Nov. 2007. And feel free to forward this to other alumni.

We hope to hear from you.

Cheers,
Eimee Lagrama
President, UPLSAA 2007-08


P.S.
We are having a training session for the Marikina Youth Center Library Volunteers this Saturday at the Aklatang Pambata, Paltok, QC. We'll begin at 9am until (about) 4pm. If you'd like to join us, let us know. See you this Saturday!

In Spanish, it’s called estar de mudanza, that’s why moving businesses in Spain (and I guess in Latin America as well) is called compania de mudanza.  That’s what we’ve been doing these past few days, estuvimos de mudanza because the Filipiniana Serials Section moved into our (gigantic) wing a week ago.

The Special Collection was originally a part of the Serials Section.  However, when I was assigned to head it, we were moved to the 2^nd Floor South Wing of the Main Library (where the Humanities Section was). Later on, we became an independent section and I was also tasked to head the Microfilm Laboratory.  The move from the basement to the 2nd Floor was stressful, both physically and psychologically.  But let's save that for another post.

The 2nd Floor seemed too big for the Special Collections Section, especially since we do not have as many materials as the other sections do.  However, there was a reason for putting us there.  Our section was meant to have two purposes: 1) as a research service area and 2) as an “entertainment” area.  Many activities hosted by the University Library were held in my section, including several book launchings, lectures, parties, exhibits and other events that support not just the academic, but also the cultural aspect of being part of a thriving and vibrant academic community.  After two years in the Special Collections, me and the other staff members have settled into our roles as librarians during regular days and event coordinators (or as some colleagues call us, GROs) whenever we have events.

However, as I have mentioned, the Filipiniana Serials have joined us in that area of the library.  It’s too early to say how things will look like, although I’m sure, things will run like clockwork in no time.  We still have the two huge enclosed rooms in the section and two alcoves plus our work area.  Except for the listening/lounge area of our section, we’ll share a reading area for our researchers.  I’m actually quite content with that.  I never thought that we could cram the entire section in such as a small space.  It means that there’s less room to lose your things in. 

I really have no idea how we can have events there anymore.  We have a retirement/birthday party for one of the librarians there in two weeks.  I guess that will be the test whether we can still have activities there. 

One thing in having the Serials section with us is that there’ll be people in our area all the time – which is both a good and bad thing.  It won’t seem like a church inside anymore.  But we can’t turn the radio on at full blast anymore too!  That means no more 80's music on Fridays!!!   However, since there’ll be actual people, it’ll be more difficult to feel the presence of our unseen friends, and boy can we feel them sometimes!

I’ll let you know how the mudanza went.  If you know how our Section looked like before, you’ll be surprised at how we look now.  Check out the pictures I took this afternoon.  We should be open to readers by Monday.

Maybe we should've found this mini-tripod 3 days earlier, we could've given this to the camera guy at the conference so his footage wouldn't be as shaky as it was. 

Carina and I bought this tripod at the Japan Home Store at the Lim Ket Kai Mall in Cagayan de Oro for a whopping  P88.00 (ang mahal no?!:D).  Thank goodness we snapped it up pronto, because when we got to the Japan Home Store in Trinoma, they didn't have it there.

I still want an honest to goodness Gorillapod, but this does the job pretty well, no need to place your camera on top of soda cans or glasses.  Just don't try to wrap the tripod's legs as you would a Gorillapod -- because it just doesn't work.

    I recently read my friend Carlos' blog regarding the richest cities in Asia -- surprise, surprise! We're in the top 10!  It's stories like this that make me feel optimistic about where our country is going, present political insanity, notwithstanding.

   And because of his blogpost, it got me researching about one of the websites that I used to refer to all the time, www.citymayors.com.  If you want to read some uplifting news about the country, head on to that website.  That's where I found out that Metro Manila is #42 in the World's Richest Cities of 2005, way above some US and European cities.  Plus, more good news: by 2020, Metro Manila is #30 of the World's Richest Cities with an estimated GDP of $257billion. 

So chin up, cheer up and celebrate! We're on -- full speed ahead!