Opening the Treasure Trove

Each time you open a book, it is like unlocking a jewel box—there is always a gem for you to discover inside. With the launch of the Union Church of Manila (UCM) Community Library on February 27, a treasure trove has been opened to the public. "It’s like A little gold mine sitting here alone in Makati," says the Chairperson of the UCM Community Library, Daryl Germaine. Let the gold rush begin!

The UCM Community Library actually started around 30 years ago and has always been open to the public. This is the first time, though, that it is being formally launched. "We decided that it was time to make people more aware of the library," said Gigi Calaor, who is in charge of library membership. Run by volunteers from the Union Church of Manila, an English speaking international church founded in 1940, the library with over 20,000 volumes is part of the church’s service to the community.

"We have sufficient materials here for students to be able to self-study," says Johann Quisumbing, who is in charge of promotions for the library. The library, with a large number of reference materials, is used by many students from grade school to graduate school. It also houses a plethora of novels, from John Grisham to Gabriel Garcia-Marquez to Umberto Eco. There is also a modest Filipiniana section with the standards like Jose Rizal’s works and more modern works from writers such as Jessica Hage-dorn and Jessica Zafra. The children’s section is particularly notable for its collection of over 5,000 picture books, storybooks, and children’s reference materials. The area is conducive for study and quiet reading. Internet use is also available to library-goers.

The library organizers are proud to highlight the fact that the UCM Community Library is one of the few public lending libraries in the Philippines—many lending libraries are only found in schools and are exclusively for the students, while most public libraries do not allow people to check out their books and bring them home.—"It has a lot to do with trust—we trust the people to bring back the books they borrowed to be able to share them with others," Daryl explains.

"We hope to start a trend of little public libraries in each community," says Johann. If this does start a trend, it would definitely be beneficial to all Filipino communities, especially the youth.

"Students today don’t know how to do research anymore. That’s one of the things we want to teach them," says Rhona Bautista, the head librarian. "Today it’s just kind of a’‘fast food’ way of getting information." Daryl adds,""If there’s no place, how are they going to learn? That’s what we’re offering here."

Aside from lending out books, the UCM Community Library also has storytelling workshops for parents, teachers, and those who want to improve their skills in storytelling for large groups of children. "Some come from as far as Baguio to attend our storytelling workshops" says the former library chairperson, Emmy Huang. They also have a story hour called Uncle Johann’s Bible Stories for Children and other community services such as drug addiction prevention seminars.

Despite the many services offered by the library, not many people are able to take advantage of them.’"Don’t you wish there are more people who get involved in our activities here so they can see what we are doing?" Cecile Morales voices the library organizers’ frustrations. The launch of the library was definitely a great opportunity to introduce it to the public and open to them so many opportunities by giving them access to books. It was a shame, though, that even if the organizers invited leaders from the different areas around Makati, the only ones who attended the launch were Prof. Irzan Tandjung of the Indonesian embassy and Nancy Uy of the Brgy. DasmariÒas, Cavite. Hopefully, this is not a reflection of all Filipinos today. A love for books and reading is something that will definitely contribute to the progress of the country. The UCM Library has opened itself to the community, now all we have to do is take advantage of it.

"Almost all of the books here were donated to us," says Daryl proudly. Many donations come from expats who, instead of packing their books when they leave, turn over their collection to the library. Benefactors have been so generous that the shelves in one corner of the library labelled "for processing" sag under the weight of so many newly donated books. "We hope that for years to come, these shelves never become empty."

May the library, as well, always be filled with people who value the importance of reading.

The UCM Community Library is located at Basement 1 of the Union Church of Manila, Rada corner Legaspi Sts., Legaspi Village, Makati City. Library hours are from 9 am to 4 pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Saturdays; 10 am to 7 pm on Wednesdays; and 10 am to 12:30 pm on Sundays. Membership is P200 for the whole year. For more information, contact head librarian, Rhona Bautista at tel 812-5609 or visit the UCM website, www.unionchurch.ph.