Students of Maabud National High School (NHS) in San Nicolas, Batangas can now access hundreds of thousands S&T information even without internet connection through the digital library called SuperSTARBOOKS they received from the Department of Science and Technology (DOST)-Batangas, Jan. 13.
SuperSTARBOOKS is the country’s first digital library, designed to house thousands of digitized science and technology resources in different formats (text, video, and audio) placed inside specially created “pods” set in a user-friendly interface. It stands for Science and Technology Academic and Research-Based Openly Operated Kiosk Station (STARBOOKS), a technology created by the Science and Technology Information Institute (DOST-STII), which has been improved and rebranded as SuperSTARBOOKS. As a standalone information kiosk, information access through STARBOOKS is possible even without internet connection. Because it provides a compendium of S&T information gathered from all over the world, it is regarded as a one-stop S&T information source.
As part of the deployment activity, an Orientation-Training on SuperSTARBOOKS was conducted for thirty-six (36) students and nine (9) teachers of the school beneficiary facilitated by DOST-Batangas staff, Ms. Renalee M. Leyesa and Mr. Cedric L. Rodriguez.
The discussion on SuperSTARBOOKS was delivered in a two-part structure. First part covered the introduction to STARBOOKS and orientation on available STARBOOKS platforms. Ms. Leyesa, presented the available platforms which participants can access during normal, new normal and better normal which include STARBOOKS Offline, Online (www.starbooks.ph), Mobile Application, Quiz Application and Geomap Application. Tons of resources itemized as books, magazines, journals, scientific and research papers, disaster preparedness materials, interactive courseware, and K-12 supplement materials were also discussed as contents of STARBOOKS. According to the DOST-STII report, STARBOOKS’ content was upgraded in 2016 to include more materials, such as full-length livelihood videos from the former Technology Resource Center, scientist profiles, DOST publications, Science: Cool Facts, significant dates in Philippine science history, and new science articles.
The second part of the discussion focused on the site admin training for both Offline and Online STARBOOKS. Mr. Rodriguez urged the participants to become familiar with the responsibilities of the site admin which include user assistance, submission of transmittal files, uploading on the citizen’s archive, updating SuperSTARBOOKS contents, and kiosk management. The roles and responsibilities of Maabud NHS as stipulated in the provisions of the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) were likewise covered in the discussion. As a fundamental monitoring requirement of DOST-STII, discussion on the quarterly submission of the transmittal file was pursued. This discussion was followed by responses to the participants’ questions and concerns.
Meanwhile, Maabud NHS Principal, Dr. Melani L. Higuit, expressed their gratitude to DOST for the digital library they have received. “Kami po ay napakapalad dahil kami po ay napili ng DOST na mabigyan ng SuperSTARBOOKS na magiging napakalaking tulong po sa aming mga mag-aaral gayundin sa aming mga guro. Kaya naman, taos-puso po ang aming pasasalamat sa DOST,” she mentioned.
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