Cebu City’s Rizal Library to open 24/7

The Rizal Public Library along Osmeña Boulevard, Cebu City, is now being outfitted for 24-hour use. Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña announced that air conditioners will be upgraded, additional staff and guards will be hired, and CCTV and Wi-Fi routers will be installed.
CDN PHOTOS/LITO M. TECSON

Starting tomorrow, March 9, the Cebu City Public Library and Information Center will open until midnight, and soon, for 24 hours a day after upgrades are in place.

Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña made the announcement on Facebook saying that this was in response to a request by a Mitch Roldan.

In an FB comment last March 5, Roldan asked Osmeña if he would consider opening the library 24 hours so that students could have a secure and affordable place to study and not rely on fastfood places.

The next day, on March 6, Osmeña’s FB page showed that the mayor was in the public library, who “checked in” at 1:15 p.m.

“Mitch Roldan, per your request, the Rizal Public Library is being outfitted for 24 hour use. The air conditioners are being upgraded, additional staff and guards being hired, CCTV installed, and WiFi routers are on their way,” Osmeña then posted on FB.

Addressing Roldan, Osmeña added: “I did not know how important this was to students until you brought it up. You made it happen. Thank you.”
Osmeña said that library hours will be extended until midnight starting Friday (March 9) and once the necessary upgrades are in place, the public library will push through with its 24-hour operation.

The Cebu City Public Library will celebrate its 100th anniversary next year. Part of its celebration will be a countdown event on April 14, 2018, which marks the library’s 99th anniversary.

Chief Librarian Rosario “Ruth” Chua, who has been serving the library for 37 years, told Cebu Daily News that she raised her concerns to the Mayor regarding safety and security, additional staff requirements and a facilities upgrade.

“The Office of the Mayor will address my concerns. The library is a public facility that should be enjoyed by the public so this is a welcomed development,” Chua said.

“My only request is for everyone to take care of it so that more people can take advantage of its services,” she added.

History

The public library first opened in 1919 as Cebu branch library of the National Library of the Philippines.

It was then located on the second floor of an old convent in the Parian District. Beneath it, on the ground floor, was the city’s fire department.

In 1938, the library moved to its current location, along Osmeña Boulevard, but it was closed down later, in the mid 40s, during the Second World War.

Chua said accounts were unclear about the specific year of the post-war reopening of the library; but her records tended to show that it was during the 50s when Sergio “Serging” Osmeña Jr., the current mayor’s father, was mayor of Cebu City.

At the time, the older Osmeña ordered the library reopened due to public clamor.

The same clamor which also kept the library alive in 2008 when Education Committee Chairman Cebu City Councilor Joy Augustus Young announced plans to close it down in favor of what was called as “satellite libraries.”

That year, the library suffered from a dwindling budget, outdated books and dilapidated facilities.

But the closure did not push through amid strong opposition, especially from community newspapers and a group that called themselves “Friends of the Cebu City Public Library”.

Today, nongovernment organizations such as Zonta Club of Cebu II, Basadours Inc. and the Youth for Livable Cebu continue to organize events and initiatives aimed at raising awareness about the importance of having the public library.

Book launchings, storytelling sessions and creative lectures and discussions are also held in the library which receives various donations from the Cebu Citizens Press Council and the Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China in Cebu, among others.

The library is currently located on the ground floor of a three-storey building known as “Rizal Library and Museum.”

As if to watch over the library, a statue of national hero Dr. Jose Rizal, with a book spread on his lap while reading to two children, sits on the second floor patio which overlooks the grounds.

The 79-year-old building, inaugurated on Dec. 30, 1939, is a prewar heritage site of neoclassic architecture which opened in time for Rizal’s 43rd death anniversary using funds from carnival expositions and literary-musical programs held since 1919.

The Cebu City Museum of Visual Arts sits on the second floor of the building while a function area called the Sinulog Hall is on the third floor.

In just a few days, the area will come alive with more people — mostly students — studying with free Wi-Fi in a cool air conditioned room, safely guarded with CCTVs.

At last, the youth have found a new home.

And Dr. Jose Rizal, who had famously said “The youth is the hope of our future”, is perhaps smiling from above.