Final Journal Entry- July 14, 2017
The day has finally come! The long wait is over! I am officially finished with my 181! It was a bumpy yet a very enjoyable journey. Although it was quite short considering that I’ve been doing this for only a month, the experiences, the untold secrets from the librarians, the passion and the warmth of camaraderie will always inspire me to do more and to be more. I know for a fact that I will not pursue the life of being a librarian, but I assured myself that whatever profession I will enter, those things that they have imparted to me will forever mark me and enlighten me. Here are some of the people that have marked my life while I was an OJT:
Ma’am Annie:
Despite your very industrious attitude of giving us painful doses of cataloging, you are still someone that I looked up to. Your unending passion for cataloging and metadata inspired me at some extent, though not as remarkable as what other librarians did to me. You, of all people, should understand that we, students, are still training and, by rule, are not yet professionals. Keep us from being trained as professionals and we will surely bring forth chaos within our field. Train us like a real, genuine and legitimate information professional. This is not a class ma’am, nor did I ask you to talk about what I already know from LIS 61 and 62, although I appreciate such gesture, it’s quite unnecessary. I hope that the next generation of OJTs will never experience what we had experienced with her. Nevertheless, shelfiisting was fun but extremely boring.
Ma’am Judith
Ma’am Judith is some kind of a boss that is termed as “easy” or “chill af”. She has this composure that I will never forget, Her stylish apparels and her ability to make everything into a joke were some of the notable things that made me closer to her. Her ability to explain things in a very clear and un-bossy way was something to be commended. It feels like a family, a family that fosters connection with each other, welp, that’s what I’ve experienced in Indexing. She taught us to work lively, free from any dull, boring moments that I’ve encountered inside the cursed halls known as Cataloging Section. Thank you, Ms. Judith, you’ll be one of those people that I will continue to look up to in in the next couple of years.
Ma’am She
Ma’am She of the University Records is someone you would always want to be with. Her jolly and very calm nature made me close to her, close enough that I can crack jokes with her during my tenure as her “Records Selector”. Her love for her job and her passion to make those old papers into something else were two of the most important things that I’ve noticed about her. Aside from that, she always has this aura that is “teen-like”, someone that you could talk to when you’re down or you’re not feeling well with someone or something. I love records because she made me feel at home there, finishing 9 boxes is no joke, going through a lot of records entails precision and accuracy, but most of all, it takes passion and vigilance to be able to sort those records properly, well, for me, I do think I possessed those things, I studied under Sir Bono for two semesters, it can’t be that I don’t know anything about records.
Ma’am Rizalyn
Your experience inside the ISaIS won’t be complete unless you’ve been instructed by Ma’am Rye to do something for her. Her passion with her work is something I commend about her. Apart from that, her jolly attitude always puzzle me at first but as I realized that those laughs were indeed trademark of the ISaIS, I felt the jolt of being at home with them. Working for and with the users up close and personal are two of the most important things that I’ve learned from them specifically from Ma’am Rye. Along with Sir Arthur and Sir Aaron, they have taught me to become a reference librarian at all times, polite and compassionate, understanding and wise, qualities that every librarian, not only working at the reference section, should have. Oh no, I am not going into great lengths explaining why those qualities should exist in the library, those are completely self-explanatory.
Ma’am Shao and Ma’am Reslyn
Although you were the last persons I’ve encountered, the two of you were the most parent-like of all the librarians, especially you, Ma’am Shao. Your love for your job, your mother-like respect and love for the OJTs made me love the Filipiniana books as much as I loved the ISaIS and Indexing sections. Ma’am Reslyn taught me, on the other hand, to work simultaneously, not keeping yourself secluded in one part of the library. Both of them taught me, however, the greatest lesson that I will never forget, to love my job and to love my profession. I am an LIS student, and as an information professional, i should have the love of providing adequate and timely information to the users most notably now in our world where the truth is being replaced by lies and fake news.
To those people I didn’t mention, thank you. You guys are the best! Even in a short span of time, we get to know each other, we get to know each other’s frustrations and passions about the profession. This is not-your-ordinary training indeed. This is beyond LIS 181, this is a life lesson that I will forever treasure. Again, Thank you, Main Library.