By Ken Bennedict T. Pueyo, BAELS-4 Intern

The 38th anniversary of the American Corner was held on the 3rd floor of the Henry Luce III Library.

American Corner Iloilo, located on the 3rd floor of the Henry Luce III Library, celebrated its 38th anniversary with several activities held from March 21-24 to commemorate the milestone. On the first day, March 21, CPU President Dr. Teodoro Robles and Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Esther Rose Romarate were present at the opening program. The program started with a prayer led by American Corner Librarian Ms. Chilou Bato-on, followed by the welcoming remarks of the University President.

Prof. Ma. Cynthia Peleña, Director of Libraries, presented a rationale wherein she shared the history of American Corner Iloilo. She mentioned that the section of the library was initially called American Studies Resource Center (ASRC) and opened its doors to the public on February 11, 1985. After the welcoming remarks and rationale, a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held for the new audio-visual room. Dr. Robles, together with Dr. Romarate, cut the ribbon. Ms. Chilou then gave the students a walkthrough on how to register for an eLibraryUSA account.

Continuing the festivities, on the second day of the event, Centralian students gathered during their vacant time in American Corner Iloilo to play some entertaining and educational games accompanied by film showings. Some of these include Scrabble, Monopoly, Uno, GeoBingo, and more. A question and answer session was also held, giving the students the chance to win prizes such as t-shirts, lanyards, and more.

In the remaining days of the week-long event, an info session and open forum about “eLibraryUSA,” a digital collection of trusted information resources from the United States with quality newspapers, magazines, journals, books, dissertations, and award-winning films and videos were held. Ms. Bato-on discussed with the students who were present in the session the features available to help with their studies and research. Prof. Sharlene Gotico supervised the session on the last day, briefing the faculty at CPU on the digital library. Certificates were rewarded to those who attended the said info session.