A public librarian’s dream

The first Lapu-Lapu City Public Library was in a room below the grand stand located in the city plaza on B.M. Dimataga Street. CDN photo / Cris Evert Lato-Ruffolo

With a pensive look on her face, 64-year-old Sagrario “Inday” Dimataga Taghoy flipped through the pages of several albums bearing old photographs that date back to June 2, 1975.

It was the year when the Lapu-Lapu City Public Library opened in a room just below the grand stand of the city plaza located along B. M. Dimataga Street.

Taghoy was then only 22 years old and had just moved back to Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu from a two-year stint as assistant librarian of Ateneo de Davao University.

“While I was in Davao, my mother sent me a telegram that a position was opened as city librarian. But I never got the message,” she recalled.

To Taghoy, it was divine will that she came home on May 1975 because that was when she learned about the opening of the city librarian position.

Taghoy was born and raised in Lapu-Lapu City.

A devotee of the Nuestra Señora Virgen de la Regla, she is the seventh of eight children.

Her father, Genaro Ompad- Dimataga, was a private contractor; while her mother, Rosario Tapere-Dimataga, was a full-time housewife with a sari-sari store in their home in barangay Poblacion.

“We were taught to be independent and liberated that is why I was allowed to go to Davao and work there a month after I earned my degree in Bachelor of Arts major in Library Science from (University of) San Carlos,” she said.

The young Inday at 22 years old was the first librarian of Lapu-Lapu City Public Library. She will retire after 43 years. CDN photo / Cris Evert Lato-Ruffolo

TRANSFER

When the library first opened in 1975, Taghoy said it could only accommodate about 20 to 30 people.

It remained in that small area below the grand stand for 16 years until 1991 when then Congressman Vicente dela Serna moved to construct a new building, specifically meant to serve as public library, within City Hall premises.

Because the library occupied the entire second floor of the building known as the Library and Manpower Training Center, it was able to accomodate around 50 to 60 people.

However in 2008, the library space was greatly reduced to give way to the operations of the Local Civil Registrar’s (LCR) Office.

At present, the library could only seat 15 adults and 10 children.

LOCATION

Aside from that, getting to the library is, in itself, a test of will as it means hurdling through a crowd of people who are either applying or renewing licenses at the Land Transportation Office on the ground floor of the building.

To get to the library, visitors need to climb about 18 steps to the second floor only to be greeted by another throng of people doing business at the LCR.

At the right side of the LCR’s main transaction area is a green door which leads to the library.

The door bears the sign “Welcome”, a laminated picture of a crucified Jesus Christ and an announcement of the library’s opening and closing time.

To the left of the main door is a section called “Lapu-Lapu Niana” where a modest collection of various books about the city, previously known as Opon, is carefully stacked by the library’s staff of two regular and two job order employees.

Neatly arranged on the top shelf are files of Lapu-Lapu City ordinances such as the controversial City Ordinance 206-2009 which bans the use of tinted helmets, bonnets and face masks that cover the identity of the motorcycle driver and the passenger.

On a shelf standing just before the door of the librarian’s office is a 50-year-old globe which chief librarian Taghoy said was a gift from former Mayor Max Patalinghug.

Two Atlas directories flanked the globe with their yellowish pages showing signs of their age.

A children’s corner decorated by the staff with multi-colored puzzle mats and storybooks stands to the right of the shelf.

“We are a small library with limited resources but we do our best to serve the public,” said Taghoy.

She said library users go to the library to research and read newspapers and magazines.

With the advent of new technology, Taghoy said she saw a decline in library interest in the last four decades.

But despite the waning interest, Taghoy continued to organize pocket activities such as storytelling sessions and celebrations in relation to the National Public Library Day every March and the National Book Week each November.

DREAM

Taghoy, who has served five mayors: Maximo Patalingjug Jr., Silvestre Dignos, Ernest Weigel Jr., Arturo Radaza and Paz Radaza, will retire on May 2 as she reaches the mandatory retirement age of 65.

“For 43 years, I personally saw the growth of the library from its humble beginnings at the city plaza during the term of former City Mayor Maximo V. Patalingjug Jr. until today,” she said in her retirement letter addressed to incumbent Mayor Paz Radaza.

Taghoy credited Bayani Dequito, who was then secretary to the Mayor, for playing a crucial role in the city’s plans for a library.

“The Oponganons were given an access into an extraordinary portal to literature and the works of written art through the library,” she said.

Although she looks forward to traveling upon her retirement, Taghoy said that she will leave the library with a heavy heart.

“The City Library became a witness to the success of countless number of students who perused it and now doctors, lawyers, engineers, librarians and other professionals. Their success stories will remain etched in my heart,” she said.

She looks up to the Cebu City Public Library as a role model of the Lapu-Lapu City Public Library and hopes to have more staff to help carry out mobile libraries that can reach out to island barangays and far-flung areas.

“I pray that I can still see a bigger, better and more vibrant public library in my lifetime. The library is an important part of our society as venue for learning and sharing,” she said.