The Foreign Service Institute’s (FSI) Carlos P. Romulo (CPR) Library capped its celebration of the 2019 Library and Information Services Month with a storytelling session for children, held on 30 November 2019.

The Library partnered with Barangay 111 zone 12 of Pasay City in selecting 50 children, aged 10-12, from its community to participate in the storytelling session at the FSI.

This activity was the Library’s way to introduce children to the fun of reading and, at the same time, promote reading as a habit among members of the Institute’s barangay community.

The Library also engaged the services of a professional storyteller, Mr. Kevin Conrad Tarrobal Tangsiongco, to read stories to the children.

He established “Magbasa Tayo Movement,” a movement promoting reading as an advocacy.

As a storyteller, Mr. Tansiongco travels to tell stories to children and to empower librarians whether on streets, at the mountains, or in seaside communities.

Mr. Tansiongco is likewise a professional librarian and a member of the Executive Borad of the Association of Special Libraries of the Philippines (ASLP).

The Department of Foreign Affairs – Office of United Nations and International Organization (DFA – UNIO) supported the Library’s activity with a donation of 50 copies of the children’s book, “Ayaw Ko Po Sana.”  This book, written by Mr. Bong Sinabahan, was inspired by the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), particularly on the right of children to be heard and to express themselves freely.

“We are proud to end the Library and Information Services Month with children in our midst. We hope they would love reading after today’s event. We made an effort to stage this activity to also participate in the National Children’s Month and the National Reading Month,” said Ms. Maria Luz Verdejo, CPR Library’s Head Librarian.

The Library thanked Barangay 111 Chairman Raul Bautista for his leadership in engaging the barangay with this project.

This year’s Library and Information Services Month celebrated the theme, “Inclusive, Innovative, Interconnected.”