COTABATO CITY—The Bangsamoro Library and Archives (BLA) bagged the ‘Most Innovative Public Library Award’ under the building/physical set-up category in the recently concluded ‘2022 Search for the Gawad Parangal sa Natatanging Tagapangasiwa at Tagapaglingkod ng Pampublikong Aklatan’.
National Library of the Philippines (NLP) conferred the award to BLA during a ceremony held in Manila on Aug. 19.
BLA was recognized for its “remarkable initiatives, significant contributions, diligence, and innovative ideas to the advancement of librarianship”. Moreover, it also ranked 5th in the Top 10 Most Diligent Public Library for 2021.
In an interview with Chief Librarian Kamila Unda on Wednesday, she shared that the annual competitions, which started in 2019, is open to all public libraries across the country.
“The competition is organized by the National Library and one of the criteria to qualify is the on-time submission of report without delay. As part of our function to provide services, we are compliant on the timely submission of our reports,” she said.
BLA, the only functional regional library in the Philippines, is “mandated to collect, maintain, and preserve regional vital documents and laws, legislations, reports, orders/issuances, and other documents of similar importance”.
Further, it “shall also serve as the primary instrumentality of the Bangsamoro Government in providing free library services to as many people as possible and to maintain viable cooperation with the National Library together with other public libraries in providing the maximum benefits of a wider variety data and information”.
“In our 2021 data, our client visit ranges from 700-800 per month. This data includes physical and online visitors,” Unda said. (Abdullah Matucan/BIO)
