PACO CATHOLIC SCHOOL - 1ST WEEK
- CHRISTIAN NOE BONGALBAL
- Mar 19
- 4 min read
Updated: Apr 8
(JANUARY 21 TO JANUARY 23)
A. MEANINGFUL EXPERIENCE
During my first week at Paco Catholic School, it felt surreal. The realization of being “actually” there and putting all of the theories and concepts I learned into practice was truly a wonderful experience. I would describe it as an adjusting phase, in which I tried to observe, integrate, and amalgamate the training and learning I acquired during our pre-internship with the functions and processes PCS has. This week was not as challenging as I thought it would be because it was examination week for PCS. Students rarely visited us since they were only scheduled for half of the day. Nonetheless, with my co-interns, we are only tasked to do mechanical activities, including book covering, stamping, and adding colored tags or labels. We accomplished those as a team and made sure that the number of books to be successfully covered and stamped was reached. Also, what I truly found exciting, yet kind of exhausting, was reshelving. That activity made me establish a bond with Jenny and Sem Ken, as we are from different sections, and it is where I feel like we have established cooperation just to perform the task as instructed by Sir Darren and Miss Arlyn.
Additionally, I gained insight into the behind-the-scenes operations of managing a library, such as maintaining an organized shelf and collection. Miss Marie also introduced us to their system, which is MySofia. Overall, my first week of experience with PCS was consequential for my growth in the field of library science and for future weeks that I will spend.
B. LESSONS LEARNED
As cliche and weird as it may sound, one of the lessons I learned during my first week in PCS was to “empty my cup”. The librarians in Paco Catholic School, especially Sir Darren, told us that there are things that we will learn in PCS that we never learned during our classes in PNU–and we should always provide space for those ideas and practices that we may encounter throughout our internship in their institution. True enough, that is what was engraved in my mind, and I discovered things I never knew I never knew. As Sir Darren mentioned, every library has different processes and practices, and what is true for PCS may not be true for DLSU, the NLP, or OLF. Thus, I valued and learned to respect, observe, and not insist on the things I know about my fellow interns, the students, and the librarians. Moreover, my co-interns and I pointed out how rarely Sir Darren shelf-read and shelved his collection, as it was so difficult it is to reshelve a collection from a school library, particularly the fiction section.
The curiosity left my body as soon as Sir Darren told us that the reason why PCS never shelf-read their collection every day is because children, especially grade school students, often read, and books are ninety-to-a-hundred percent being disarranged and jumbled, which is a sign that the library is effective and functioning. Moreover, I learned from Miss Marie how important a system is to a library, and she introduced the MySofia. She taught us how to use it and how it was carefully aligned with their practices, specifically tailored to a school library like the PCS.
C. BEST PRACTICES / FEATURES OF THE LIBRARY
According to Sir Carlo, Paco Catholic School is the only “actual” school library that we will experience throughout our whole library practice or internship, and that is why I am very excited and equipped with lots of expectations. Fortunately, it was met when I observed some of the best practices of their library and listened to the stories of Sir Darren, Miss Arlyn, and Miss Marie. Since this is just the first week, I find the structure of the building and the location of the library quite interesting. All of the library sections and areas are in the same building and the infrastructure itself is not hard to locate for students, which I believe is a huge factor in higher library usage. Also, a practice I found intriguing and quite my “Oh, that’s right!” moment is how they never shelf-read daily, as Sir Darren mentioned that students tend to disarrange the books. The science, or I mean the reason behind this, is that it prevents the librarians from spending their time just reshelving, especially since the PCS has a huge collection for a school library, and when I say huge, it’s huge! That wide array of collections is also one of the best features of the library.
If I were a student there, I would stay there in awe of how diverse their collections are. It is even classified for grade school, junior high school, senior high school, and college. Also, I felt jealous when Sir Darren told us that students who are considered their top users and readers had the chance to join the previous Manila International Book Fair and had their chance to choose the book that they liked. I am sure that that activity alone made Paco Catholic School-Instructional Media Center a well-performing school library. I genuinely appreciate how they encourage students and promote what they have.
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