Wanted: 50,000 librarians
SAN CARLOS CITY—Philippine public and private schools are in need of some 50,000 academic librarians, according to the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) Regional Office.
Records show that there are only 9,000 registered librarians in the country and about 20 percent of them are working abroad or have migrated.
CHED Region I Director Dr. Caridad O. Abuan said many academic institutions around the country are operating without certified librarians so a bachelor’s degree in Library and Information Science (BLIS) degree has been declared a priority course offering.
In Region 1, there are only four schools that are offering BLIS, of which three are in Pangasinan.
These are Urdaneta City University (UCU) and Panpacific University North Philippines (PUNP), in Urdaneta City, and Virgen Milagrosa University Foundation (VMUF) in San Carlos City.
The fourth is Saint Louis College in San Fernando City, La Union.
VMUF University Librarian Caroline L. Castillo said a BLIS course is an excellent career today considering the competitiveness in terms of employability, salary and benefits.
She said BLIS graduates can be also be employed in museums, government agencies and local government units, private establishments, and medical libraries, among others.
In the case of VMUF, Castillo said the university has a wide collection of more than 83,000 volumes of updated books and it is manned by competent librarians.(NCC)
Share your Comments or Reactions
Powered by Facebook Comments
