DLSU Librarians Attended ICoASL 2017; Manabat bagged 3rd Place Best Paper

The role of libraries in preserving cultural heritage in the digital age was the main focus of the recently concluded 5th International Conference on Asian Special Libraries (ICoASL 2017) with a theme “Curation and Management of Cultural Heritage through Libraries: Challenges and Opportunities for the Digital Society” held last 10-12 May 2017 in UIN Sunan Kalijaga, Yogyakarta Indonesia. The said event was jointly organized by The Special Libraries Association (SLA)-Asian Chapter and the Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University (UIN Sunan Kalijaga). This year’s gathering aims to provide a platform for exchange of knowledge and skills relevant to information professionals in Asia with a global perspective especially in the field of cultural heritage preservation through libraries in the digital era.



Three research papers authored and co-authored by DLSU librarians were presented in this years’ conference. Mr. Joseph Yap (Public Programs Librarian) and Ms. Agnes Barsaga (Librarian, Technical Services) presented their paper entitled Building a Timeless Audiovisual Collection: Libraries and Archives as Repositories of Oral History which discusses the oral history collection of De La Salle University as well as the challenges and experiences of establishing and maintaining oral histories. Mr. Yap was also the moderator for the Session 12: Cultural Programs: Lesson Learned, one of the parallel sessions on the Day 2 of the conference.



Ms. Donna Lyn G. Labangon (Special Collections Librarian and Associate American Studies Resource Center Librarian) presented her co-authored paper with Ms. Lulu J. Del Mar (former DLSU Archivist) entitled On Building Records Retention and Disposition – Philippine Experience on Establishing Guideline and Schedules which highlighted the strategy used by De La Salle University in ensuring the awareness of all records managers in their role on safeguarding the identity of their institution.


Another collaborative work presented was by Ms. April R. Manabat (Catalog Librarian, Technical Services) and Mr. Rafael Joseph C. del Mundo of House of Representatives Library. Their paper entitled How Do We Collect? : Experiences and Perceptions of Metro Manila Public Libraries in Collecting Local Cultural Heritage aimed to identify public libraries in Metro Manila that collects local cultural heritage and determine their reasons for collecting, perceived benefits, challenges and strategies they have encountered. Their paper also bagged the 3rd Place Best Paper award among the 65 papers accepted and presented for this year’s ICoASL.



Photo credits: PLAI NCRLC Twitter Account, ICoASL SLA Facebook page, A. Manabat, D. Labangon.