Malditang Librarian

Image by Alex Myers from Pixabay NASA's Hubble Space Telescope with the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in the US has began a new project to survey and catalog nearby stars in the Milky Way galaxy and other galaxies.  Project ULLYSES, which stands for UV Legacy Library of Young Stars as Essential Standards, is said to be Hubble's most ambitious observing program.  "One of the key goals of ULLYSES is to form a complete reference sample that can be used to create spectral libraries capturing the diversity of stars, ensuring a legacy dataset for a wide range of astrophysical topics," said Julia Roman-Duval, program lead. ULLYSES intends to help astronomers understand the birth of stars and how this relates to space, planets, and galaxies.  According to Hubble's official website, "Hubble will build this dataset not with images, but by gathering spectra, which spread light into its component wavelengths and reveal details about each star’s size, tempe...

Globe Telecoms refuted a World Bank report that cited 2G remains to be the dominant technology and that the Philippines is on the wrong side of the regional “digital divide.” As a panelist in the joint public launch of the Philippines Digital Economy Report 2020 entitled “Better Normal under COVID-19: Digitalizing the Philippine Economy Now ”, Globe president and CEO Ernest Cu echoed the reactions of the representatives from the Department of Information Communication and Technology, Department of Trade and Industry, the Anti-Red Tape Authority, and the Union Bank of the Philippines. “We agree with the recommended key reforms and policy measures that will help the Philippines leverage digitalization for economic and social resilience, especially in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Citing the latest data in the August 2020 OpenSignal report, Cu said, “The report showed a substantial 80.9% increase in download speeds and 4G availability rising 19.5 percentage points from 63.75 t...

Sen. Sonny Angara recently proposed a bill to strengthen the public library system of the country and update RA 7743. The new Senate Bill 1879 was first presented in the 2nd Regular Session of the 18th Congress of the Republic of the Philippines.  The bill was introduced last October 12, 2020, and was referred to the Committees on Basic Education, Arts and Culture, and Local Government and Finance for review. The full title of the proposed bill is "An act strengthening the public library system, amending for the  Republic Act No. 7743, otherwise known as 'An act providing for the establishment of Congressional, City, and Municipal Libraries and Barangay Reading Centers throughout the Philippines,' and for other purposes." The bill provides for more modern and electronic means of delivering library services and resources to users, such as: books, e-books, online research resources, subscriptions to online academic journals, databases and periodicals electronic librar...

Photo from Gov. Ramil Hernandez Facebook page The Laguna Provincial Library officially opened its doors to the public today, November 10, 2020, announced via a social media post by Gov. Ramil Hernandez of the province. The library is located at P. Guevara St. Barangay Poblacion in Santa Cruz, Laguna, near the Provincial Capitol of Laguna. It was previously located near Pedro Guevara Memorial National High School.  The library has 12,704 books, 14,362 serials and periodicals, 1,174 non-print materials and around 28,000 electronic files. The library is headed by Justina Garcia with 12 library staff.  Recently, the library also launched their website at http://library.laguna.gov.ph which features their Web Online Public Access Catalog (WebOPAC) where users can search the library collections. The website was launched to provide online services for the public even during the pandemic. According to head librarian Justina P. Garcia (2020), "Through the website, LPL will be able ...

The Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino is a national film festival that features screenings of Filipino movies in all theaters throughout the country. The Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) leads this event.  This film festival began in 2017 and since then has screened 33 Filipino films, with more than 2.5 million viewers, and earned over 420 million pesos at the box office. Now in its fourth year, the PPP has moved online due to the pandemic that has also affected the film industry.  According to FDCP, "From October 31 to December 13, 2020, we will be holding PPP4 through an online streaming platform managed by FDCP called the FDCP Channel with the theme “Sama All”. In the spirit of unity and supporting one Philippine Cinema, PPP4 will showcase over 170 Filipino films (90 full-length films and 80 short films) - a curation of the most memorable titles (classics and contemporary) from local to regional film festivals, filmmakers, and producers, award-winning and tra...

Recognizing the importance of keeping students safe from online risks while learning, Globe has launched the first of a series of eModules designed to promote proper online behavior among the youth. The Digital Insight eModules tackle the internet landscape in the Philippines while underlining imminent threats and risks such as cyberattacks and identity theft that digital technology users are exposed to and how the youth can be protected against them. The eModules are an offshoot of Globe’s Digital Thumbprint Program (DTP) workshops launched in 2016 to educate students on digital citizenship and responsible use of technology.  DTP was eventually integrated by the Department of Education (DepEd) in the K-12 curriculum to bolster DepEd’s existing modules around digital literacy. With the current pandemic discouraging face-to-face interactions in schools, Globe saw the need to convert the traditional DTP workshop modules into bite-sized instructional materials that  are easil...

The Freedom of Information Project Management Office (FOI-PMO) of the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO), is offering a Free online course on Freedom of Information. The free course is available on CourseBank ( https://coursebank.ph/courses ), the online learning platform of the  Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP). The online course is powered by Project Smarter Philippines through Data Analytics Research and Development, Training, and Adoption (Project SPARTA) -- a joint initiative of the DOST, DAP, Analytics Association of the Philippines, and CourseBank. FOI 101: Freedom of Information: An Introduction offers fundamental topics and discussions on the history of Access to Information (ATI) or Right to Information (RTI) both from a local and global perspective. The course will also map the legal framework on the right to access information. The course will expound on the FOI Program and its implementation in the country, with a walkthrough of th...