Nine units of the Department of Science and Technology’s (DOST) “library in a box” are set to be deployed to nine different institutions and sites in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu with the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signing for the project dubbed as STARBOOKS or Science and Technology Academic and Research- Based Openly Operated Kiosks at the Hoops Dome in the city last November 10, 2015.
The nine beneficiaries are the Science and Technology Education Center, Felipe F. Matbagon Memorial High School, Lapu-Lapu Mini City Hall, Marigondon National High School, Nemesio-Epifania Taneo Memorial High School, Lapu-Lapu City College, Pangan-an High School, Sta. Rosa National High School, and Lapu-Lapu City Library.
Developed by DOST’s Science and Technology Information Institute (STII), STARBOOKS is the Philippines’ first digital science library. It is a stand-alone information kiosk that does not require Internet connection, containing thousands of digitized science and technology resources in text, video and audio formats from local and foreign sources.
Specifically, STARBOOKS features books, magazines, journals, scientific and research papers, “TamangDOSTkarte” livelihood videos, and Britannica Ultimate Encyclopedia, covering topics on food and nutrition, health and medicine, energy, environment, livelihood technologies, among others.
“We are happy out of the nine STARBOOKS, I think there are about four or five that will be transported to the island,” remarked Regional Director of DOST-VII Edilberto L. Paradela. “It’s really a remote area and that’s a real effort…that we are able to serve every Juan and every Juana.”
“I have been pushing for innovation in the city hall and in the very place where it should begin and happen most and that is in the classrooms,” said Lapu Lapu City Mayor Paz C. Radaza during the MOU signing and STARBOOKS launching.
Radaza added that students in the city will now be more interested in science and other relevant topics as STARBOOKS will encourage curious minds to develop new ideas, inventions and innovations. It will also inspire them to become entrepreneurs, she said.
Rajyl Muleta, data controller IV from STII and who presented STARBOOKS during the launching, reiterated that since the Philippines lacks human capital in the field of science and technology “we want the students in the near future to go for science and technology.”
STARBOOKS was awarded with the American Library Association (ALA) Presidential Citation for Innovative International Library Projects last June 29, 2015 at the San Francisco Library in San Francisco, California, U.S.A. According to ALA, STARBOOKS was acknowledged for “making science and technology materials available to the general public in remote areas that have few information resources, no libraries and little or no Internet connectivity.”
STARBOOKS was also one of the many product technologies from the ASEAN region exhibited during the Kuala Lumpur Engineering Science Fair last October 30- November 1, 2015 in Malaysia.
In the upcoming National Biotechnology Week from November 23-28, 2015 at SM City Dasmariñas, Cavite, STARBOOKS will also be on exhibit with STII staff members on hand to assist those who want to try out DOST’s “library in a box.” (S&T Media Service)
(From left) Marcial Abapo Ycong, vice mayor of Lapu-Lapu City; Hon. Paz C. Radaza, mayor of Lapu-Lapu City; Engr. Edilberto L. Paradela, regional director of DOST Region VII; and Dr. Carmelita T. Dulangon, president of Lapu-Lapu City College sign the Memorandum of Understanding for the deployment of STARBOOKS in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu.(Photo and text by Ma. Lotuslei P. Dimagiba)
The actual Science and Technology Academic and Research-Based Openly Operated Kiosks or STARBOOKS (Photo and text by Ma. Lotuslei P. Dimagiba)
