On their 18th anniversary, the UP Future Library and Information Professionals of the Philippines, also known as UP FLIPP of the School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS), held their 12th LibSpeak last August 17, 2020 through a webinar as a need to adjust to the online setting caused by the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The seminar, consisting of a lecture series, is a major event that is often held in partnership with another school as a means to promote the field of Library and Information Studies to high school students who are soon to enter the higher academe. UA FLIPP and Regalo were the partner organizations for the event this time.
This year’s LibSpeak, which featured discussions on storytelling, fake news, and the role of librarians, was the first one held on an online platform with the use of the Webinar website. It was divided into two sessions: morning and afternoon, with the former featuring current dean of SLIS, Prof. Mary Grace P. Golfo-Barcelona, faculty member Prof. Elijah John F. Dar Juan, and Darrel Manuel Marco, Mennie Viray, and Roilingel Calilung as guest speakers of the lectures; and the latter with an extended Q&A session and announcement of winners for the storytelling contest, raffle draw, and Kahoot! quiz bee. Both sessions were hosted by Einor Abad, with an astounding audience count of 1,800 participants in the morning on Webinar and 900 on YouTube Live, and 300 in the afternoon. Of course, this surely would not have been a success if not for the organization members and its corresponding alumni, along with the event partners UA FLIPP, Regalo, Inquirer.net, and Astig.ph.
The UP Future Library and Information Professionals of the Philippines are only getting bigger, bolder and braver. If you want to keep in touch and updated with their future projects, kindly visit their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/upflipp/!
ADVT