Incoming President’s Acceptance Speech

A pleasant good morning to all of you and to our distinguished guests: Dean Ma. Divina Pascua-Cruz, College Secretary Grace Gonzales, Prof. Rosalie Faderon, former deans Rosa Vallejo and Ursula Pichache, jubilarians, friends, colleagues and fellow alumni. I thank you for making this day special, for electing me as your 55th president and for taking time out from your busy schedules to be with your fellow alumni.

Being an officer in the Association some years back, I felt the need to contribute and give back to the organization founded by the great men and women of the Institute of Library and Information Science. As a recognized profession, librarianship in the 21st century goes beyond deskwork. Librarians are expected to perform multiple tasks and lead in all areas of information. Our roles as information managers and disseminators are the key factors in building progress in our society. Bear in mind that while methods may change or become outdated, our duty remains the same.

Allow me to present my agenda for this year. We may be constrained to accomplish more because of the forthcoming CONSAL 2006, in which we are all expected to participate. However, we will do our best as a team, utilizing the expertise of the new set of officers and with the able support of the Institute, and of course you fellow alumni.

1. Updating the alumni directory
   
   There is a need to publish a new directory of alumni to be able to reach out and disseminate information. We need your email addresses so we can send the newsletter via the Internet to minimize the cost of mailing that is eating up our resources.



2. Membership campaign
   
   We would like to appeal to our fellow alumni to renew their memberships or become lifetime members.



3. A permanent website for the UPLSAA
   
   This I will try to work out with my colleagues and with the new board.



4. Outreach program to libraries and librarians in the provinces
   
   We have initiated a book donation program to a public elementary school in Jaen West Elementary School in Nueva Ecija. We will do more this year.



5. Alumni Relations Office
   
   We will try to revive the Alumni Office at the Institute, where we can meet and conduct business with our alumni and friends.



6. Other ways to generate funds
   
   It is my ardent desire to contribute in enhancing our resources for the welfare of the Association.

With these as my guide, and with your confidence, I appeal to all of you to help me achieve these goals. Your support for all the Association’s endeavors and activities will be your best contribution in making us the best Alumni Association; while being anything at all can be brought about by accidents beyond our control, being the best is by no means accidental. Apart from being the best as the ideal state, then it is also a choice, the choice to be the best, and to effectively make that choice is one step to being the best.

May we in our own little way continue to be an inspiration to the library profession and to the future generation of librarians.

Thank you and good day!