Biliran Province State University (BiPSU), through the University Learning Resource Center (ULRC), held the 5th University Book Fair yesterday, September 6, at the Sports Center, Volleyball Court 2, that will run until September 8, Friday.

Mr. Joe Bryan C. Cadiente, College Librarian, emphasized that the aforementioned activity is one of the initiatives of the university in ensuring the delivery of quality education and sufficing the needs of faculty members and students with regard to their book sources and learning materials.

“This book fair is an opportunity for the faculty members and students where this activity can help them with their instructional materials and for their research purposes,” Mr. Cadiente said.

Mr. Cadiente added that there are five (5) publishing companies present in this year’s book fair, namely, CD Books, Linar International Book Resources, Inc., Fastbooks, Great Books Trading, and Belview. He also explained the reason for having 5 publishing companies this year compared to only having four (4) in 2022.

“Among gi priority karon is kadtong mga subjects nga limited or kuwang ang na purchase last year. This time around, instead of four vendors nag add mig usa pa ka vendor, there are five vendors na for this year,” he added.

Meanwhile, Dr. Concepcion M. Gayrama, Director for Library Services, highlighted that the 5th university book fair is based on an analysis that was conducted prior to the launching, which is called the Collection Development Analysis (CDA). Moreover, she mentioned that the CDA was a suggestion given by the Accrediting Agency of Chartered Colleges and Universities in the Philippines (AACCUP) accreditors during last year's accreditation.

“Our books now are books resulting from the Collection Development Analysis (CDA) that the library conducted. The conduct of CDA was a suggestion from the AACCUP accreditors when we had our accreditation last year. Based on the result, we have reliable data talaga because it was already a study conducted by librarians particularly on disciplines in IT (Industrial Technology) particularly, Food Technology, Drafting, Garments, Handicrafts, and all the other major courses under the Industrial Technology program, kasi we found out based on the CDA na talagang kulang tayo sa ganitong books. These are priority programs na talagang ni request namin sa kanila (vendors),” Dr. Gayrama said.

It can be noted that BiPSU's administration allocated eight (???? million pesos for the purchase of books for the university library. Additionally, the 5th university book fair is part of the university's founding anniversary and 100th-year celebration of Philippine Librarianship.