6 Pangasinan schools receive virtual libraries

CALASIAO, Philippines — The Department of Science and Technology Region 1 (DOST-1), through its provincial office in Pangasinan and in collaboration with the Office of Deputy Speaker Rose Marie Arenas, awarded Starbooks “virtual libraries” to six recipient-schools in the province’s third district last month. 

DOST’s Starbooks is a stand-alone information kiosk that contains thousands of digitized science and technology resources in various formats (text and video/audio) set in a user-friendly interface and can be accessed without an internet connection.

Arenas, representative of Pangasinan’s Third District, was assisted by Armando Gan of DOST-1 in handing over the certificates of donation to the recipient-schools, namely, Libas National High School in San Carlos City, Doyong-Malabago National High School in Calasiao, Banaoang National High School in Santa Barbara, Canan National High School in Malasiqui, Sanlibo National High School in Bayambang and Baloling National High School in Mapandan.

Arenas told The STAR she is happy as students will “greatly benefit” from Starbooks. She urged them to maximize its use in their studies.

The awarding ceremony was also graced by former representative and current Movie and Television Review and Classification Board chair Rachel Arenas and San Carlos City Mayor Joseres Resuello.

Starbooks is beneficial especially to remote areas where few information resources are available, with little or no access to the Internet and rely solely on the limited books in the libraries.