The only nationally accredited professional organization of librarians in the Philippines to date is the Philippine Librarians Association, Inc. Founded on 22 October 1923, by a group of six professional librarians who returned to the Philippines from the United States where they received training in library science as government scholarship grantees, its first set of officers were Dr. TRINIDAD H. PARDO DE TAVERA, a statesman, scholar, and bibliographer, who was unanimously elected President; his assistant, Mr. JOSE ZURBITO, became Vice-President; Mr. CIRILO B. PEREZ, an assistant librarian of the Bureau of Science, and Mrs. ROSA ABRIOL, librarian of the American Circulating Library of the Philippine Library Museum, were elected secretary and treasurer, respectively. The association was officially registered as a nonstock, nonprofit corporation on October 8, 1925.
With a starting membership of five Americans and 28 Filipino librarians, the association has grown to between 600-700 professional licensed librarians. To date, 39 presidents, all Filipino except for one American, have steered the direction of the association to its present standing as the umbrella organization for all library aggrupations in the country. As of the last count in November 2001, it has about 220 life members, with a potential 3500 members if the law requiring automatic membership in the accredited professional organization is passed by the Philippine Congress.
As provided for in its original Constitution, the object of the Philippine Library Association shall be to promote library service and librarianship. Among its stated objectives are:
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To uphold the dignity and ethics of the library profession;
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To maintain library service at high professional levels;
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To enable librarians and their associations to discharge their public responsibility more effectively;
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To encourage the creation of libraries throughout the country;
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To foster and maintain among its members high ideals of integrity, learning, professional competence, public service and conduct;
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To safeguard the professional interest of its members;
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To cultivate among its members a spirit of cordiality and fellowship;
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To provide a forum for the discussion of librarianship, library reform, and the relation of the librarians to the other professions and to the public, and to publish information relating thereto;
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To encourage and foster a continuing program of library education and research and make reports and recommendations thereon; and
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To encourage and cultivate library cooperation and establish professional contact with librarians and their association in other countries.”
SOURCE:
Manansala-Verzosa, F.A. (2003). The Philippine Librarians Association, Inc. In M.J. Bates, M.N. Maack & M. Drake (Eds.) Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science (pp. 2317-2320). Retrieved November 25, 2006, from http://www.dekker.com/sdek/abstract~db=enc~content=a713531833~words=
