LIS Congress: On a Personal Note

 It was just a few minutes ago when all of it sank in to my system. After all the sweat, the heat, pollution, sleepless nights and disturbed sleeps, LIS Congress 2009 was successful and we made a history! It is the first LIS Congress in the Philippines and I am so damn proud of myself for being one of the three people (Marj and Von) who really planned and organized it. Being officers of the pioneer library and information science student organization, we gave it another milestone. I am still speechless and do not know what to say. 

The preparation is one-of-a-kind experience I can never forget as I can never forget Marj and Von whom I worked with. We used to have endless YM conferences at nights and talked along drive ways as if we were beggars. There are so much stories to tell, but it would be more fun to recall them with Marj and Von.

The event was very ambitious. We started on nothing - no topics, no finances, no contacts. But with the dedication and will to contribute to the organization and to the LIS field in the Philippines, we pursued for it. Librarians and library science students should be given this kind of seminar so they can learn outside the classrooms and pages of the books and interact with their fellow librarians. Being the (future) information brokers of society, it is advantageous to share knowledge with each other. Librarians are no longer that stereotype unfriendly image. The event gave the participants ideas on the out-of-the-box issues and trends that cover the LIS field. 

All I can say  is thank you. To our speakers: Hon. VM Herbert Bautista, Atty. Vyva Victoria Aguirre, Ms. Zarah Grace Gagatiga, Ms. Emma Rey, Mr. Juned Sonido, Prof. Igor Cabbab, Prof. Edgardo Quiros, and Mrs. Elnora Conti, thank you! To our co-presentor and sponsors: UP Information Technology Training Center (UP ITTC), New Day Publishers, F&J de Jesus Inc., and Fast Books, thank you! And to all participants who joined the fun of learning LIS, thank you! We would also like to personally thank the UP SLIS Admin Office for letting us use the fax and phones. And of course, to our friends aka LISSA pips who were also on the event’s journey, for the patience, moral support, help, and talents.

 The sermon for the Sunday service lately fitted me well. It was about one life to live and leaving a legacy is one of the ways on how to live it spiritually. In my 20 years of existence on earth, so far, my biggest yet humble contribution is giving and inspiring my fellow students that we can also contribute to our field even we are still undergraduates. Of course we can’t do it without the miraculous strength God gave when we were already losing life on working for this event.

Just as Ma’am Conti said,  “Good job! Ituloy niyo ‘to next year ha.” And I am looking forward to the next LIS Congress.