GOVPH

“STARBOOKS can nurture young people in Bagac to become future leaders and innovators,” Mayor Louise Gabriel del Rosario of Bagac, Bataan said in recent installation of the science and technology (S&T) library in his town. “As such, it would help them someday to create many jobs and livelihood opportunities for their constituents.”

Short for Science & Technology Academic and Research-Based Openly Operated Kiosks STARBOOKS is a digital science library developed by Department of Science and Technology-Science and Technology Information Institute (DOST-STII) to equip different public schools with valuable learning resources on S&T.

Mayor del Rosario told this after participating in separate turnover ceremonies of STARBOOKS units and orientations recently in Emillio C. Bernabe National High School, Saysain National High School, and Bagac National High School, all in Bagac town in Bataan.

Mayor del Rosario saw STARBOOKS’s important role in providing quality education and how it could translate in producing highly-skilled professionals in their area.

“Creating infrastructure for conducive learning is one of our priorities. We would like to build an environment, wherein, our students here in Bagac are in comfortable situation and inspire to gain knowledge in various disciplines and with STARBOOKS, we found a perfect partner,” said del Rosario.

Del Rosario said that STARBOOKS could aid them to resolve two issues prevailing in their public schools: limited learning materials and weak internet connectivity.

“As STARBOOKS contains numerous information materials on science, mathematics, enterprise technology and it can be accessible even without internet (connection), it upgrades the services offered by our library. It makes more appealing for students to visit often their respective library because of STARBOOKS,” said del Rosario.

Seeing the students’ enjoyment and great level of curiosity as they explore the content of STARBOOKS, Mayor del Rosario is confident that their students could develop deep appreciation and understanding on the practical uses of science and mathematics in their lives.

“With the help of STARBOOKS, I am hoping that many of our students will be motivated to become engineers, doctors, and chemists in the future and lead us in finding solutions to some of the problems and limitations we experience here in Bagac,” said del Rosario.
Meanwhile, Alfon B. Narquita, senior science research specialist from DOST-STII, shared during the orientation the various local and international recognitions received by STARBOOKS in recent years such as the Presidential Citation for Innovative International Library Projects awarded by American Library Association in 2015 at the International Librarians Reception at the San Francisco Library in San Francisco, California. Then four months ago, STARBOOKS knocked gold and silver awards in separate categories in the 52nd Anvil Awards.
Currently, STARBOOKS is installed in 1,543 sites all over the country. The Super STARBOOKS version is available online and a mobile application is already being developed to make it more accessible.
For more information about STARBOOKS, email all inquiries to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call telephone numbers (632) 837-2071 local 2135, (632) 837-2191 to 95 local 105/106, (632) 837-2071 local 2130. (By Allan Mauro V. Marfal, DOST-STII)