The students and professors under the Masters of the Arts in Library and Information Science (MALIS) Program of the University of Santo Tomas Graduate School organized a webinar titled “The Challenging Future of the Library Technical Services in the New Normal.” It was held on December 5, 2020 using the Zoom platform.
Although the webinar was for free, the 130 participants were encouraged to voluntarily donate to #BangonCagayan Donation Drive for those devastated by Typhoon Ulysses in Cagayan Valley. Seeing the catastrophe that has befallen the province, the webinar organizers decided to help with a donation drive by inviting the webinar participants to share. Donations were channeled through GCash and BPI Bank deposit, and the collected donation with complete documentation was forwarded to the Cagayan and Kalinga Apayao (CaAKAp) Librarians Association Inc. through Mr. Michael Pinto, Head Librarian of Provincial Library and Research Center.
The webinar speakers were two experts in the field of librarianship, namely, De La Salle University Librarian Ms. Ana Maria B. Fresnido, who talked about “How Philippine Libraries Adapt and Implement RDA,” and Ateneo de Manila University Rizal Library Head Librarian Ms. Bernadette Mariano Garilao, who discussed “Indexing Filipiniana Materials and Indexing Software: Trends and Challenges.”
Fresnido discussed Resource Description Access (RDA). RDA signifies the radical and global shift in cataloging rules. Designed for the digital world, the coverage of the cataloging rules include: instructions will be a Web tool; instructions cover description of digital resources and resulting records to be used in web environment. According to Fresnido, in academic year 2012-2013, a meeting on the topic “What now for RDA in the Philippines,” was held, facilitated by the National Library of the Philippines. She likewise explained the best practices for RDA in MARC 21 and mentioned that “KOHA”, an open-source software that librarians can adapt in their respective workplace, is RDA-ready.
Meanwhile, Garilao discussed “Indexing Filipiniana Materials and Indexing Software: Trends and Challenges.” Her lecture consisted of two parts: 1) Indexes and Indexing: An Overview; 2) Indexing at the Rizal Library. She explained that indexes give added value to a document because it helps researchers find materials, which ensures increased collection usage.
As an indexer, Garilao elaborated on the Computerized Index to Philippine Periodical Articles (CIPPA) software used by the Rizal Library of Ateneo; Index to Philippine Newspapers (IPN); Index to Philippine Periodical Articles (IPPA) used by UP Diliman; Health Education Research Information Network (HERDIN), MAHLAP.
Garilao said that “The tools for computer-aided indexing manipulate index entries by alphabetizing and merging the entries and by formatting the entries into a structured index.”
