In UP Manila, to borrow books, you first have to have your ID stamped and countersigned. My ID had already been stamped before, but that was only good for my LU1 days. I had not bothered to have my ID stamped again in the succeeding semesters because I really had no need to go to the library; all I needed were either easily found in my buddy stuff (study materials passed down by upperclassmen, a tradition in the College) or accessible online.
So at the end of my first class for this day (Biochemistry) I began pestering our class president for directions on how to go about having my ID stamped and countersigned. I really had no idea how I had that ID stamped before. I think back then our batch freshman coordinator walked us all through it at the same time, which was why I really don't remember the process anymore.
She told me to go to the OUR to have it signed, with a copy of my enlisted subjects. My immediate follow-up question was to ask where exactly in the OUR. Apparently the building right beside the College of Arts and Sciences is called the OUR, but there was actually a room inside which was the actual OUR... my knowledge of what was usually called the OUR was limited only to the booths where we pay our tuition so I was pretty confused. Actually up to now I'm still confused. Laugh all you want people. I suck at things like this.
So I made my way up to the OUR, bringing with me a copy of my enlisted subjects which I had printed previously, and looked for... the OUR. I showed the administrator there my list of subjects and I had it stamped. Easy.
Next, I had to have my ID countersigned. One just needs to go to his or her respective college library and simply have the librarian in-charge sign the stamp. The problem was, our actual college library was off-limits because its foundation had collapsed on itself. Luckily the class president advised me beforehand that I should go to Salcedo Hall instead to have it signed. Thankfully I knew exactly where Salcedo Hall was, so I made my way there.
The guard at the entrance stopped me and asked me what I was there for, so I explained to her that I had to have my ID countersigned. I asked her where the library was and she told me to go to the end of the hallway to take an elevator to the second floor, where I would find the library. Before I left, she asked me if I was a student.
"Actually, student po ako sa College of Medicine."
She was like, okay, sige. Only now do I understand why she was a bit confused at my answer. Apparently Salcedo Hall is a building of the College of Medicine as well. At the time I had thought that Salcedo Hall was like, a building from the College of Public Health. Facepalm.
She had told me to go and take the elevator at the end of the hallway, so I walked till the end of the corridor. I looked around, but I couldn't find any elevator... hahaha. Luckily the staircase was easier to find, so I took that instead. It was only to the second floor, anyway.
When I reached the second floor I found myself facing a forked road. I really had no idea where to go, so I just walked around and read the labels of the different rooms. I remember feeling scared because some of those rooms really had don't enter written all over it. The rooms were labelled as the office of so-and-so, etc. The other rooms made me wonder however. Why is there a physiology lab in the College of Public Health? (At that time, I was still 100% under the assumption that I was in a CPH building). My mind of course tried to reconcile this by thinking, "Of course Public Health people need to study physio too... duh." But truly, at that point, I was getting confused again. Sigh.
I was looking for the College of Public Health Library, in a CM building... A few more minutes of mindless wandering passed and then finally I saw a paper post signalling the entrance of the F. Herrera library. Thankfully despite my less than stellar sense of direction I had enough street-smarts to remember that the CM library was actually called the F. Herrera library. That made it easy. I remember being awed though that they were able to relocate the Med library in a CPH building. Ugh, I'm cringing right now actually.
When I entered the door, I saw only a collection of booths. The person in the first booth was like, "huh?" when I had her try to sign my ID. It's a good thing that the person in the other booth overheard my conversation and said that he was the guy I was looking for.
So with my ID signed, I went back to the CAS library. Prior to starting my journey, I was clever (wow. I'm trying my best here, okay?) enough to access the online OPAC and list down the call numbers of the books I needed. So this should be easy, right?
So when I reached the 2nd floor of CAS I quickly entered the library. The guard there stopped me. I then proceeded to flash my newly-stamped, duly-countersigned ID to her and go on my way. Nope. Apparently I had to leave my bag at the front desk pala. Oh yeah. Facepalm again. She then told me that she thought I was trying to have my ID countersigned from her, so apparently I had confused her as well. Good thing she was very nice naman. I explained to her that I don't really go to the library that often and she then was very accommodating to me. I explained that I was there to borrow books. So I asked her if she knew what to do. She told me to just go inside and talk to the librarian in the desk, so I went inside.
There was no one in the desk at the time, so I went back outside, and explained to her that I literally had no freaking idea what to do. So she walked me to an adjacent room inside the library. In my head I was pretty surprised that the CAS library had additional rooms. Previous visits to the library in LU1 had given me the impression that the huge entrance area was the entirety of the library. Entering the new room, she directed me to an old lady who looked kind.
So I told that lady my situation, and gave her a paper with the call numbers of the books I required listed down. She checked the system if the books I was looking for were available, and told me to go look for the books. Not the response I was hoping for. I really had no clue how to find a book given the call number so I was hoping that she'd help me find them hahaha.
Diskarte time. So I saw that all my books had call numbers starting with QL so naturally I went to the section with QL in it. All my fears disappeared when I realized that the books were arranged in a logical manner. It took me some time, but after about 20 minutes of shuffling through the books on the lowest rung of the bookcase I found the books I needed. It wasn't as easy as simply finding the call number because most books were rebound and had no title on the book spine, but in the end, I was able to find what I came for.
The lady told me to look for the newer books on the first row of the library. There was some sort of a mini-QL section there which contained my book. Now, I just needed to find the last book in my collection. I was there to borrow five books: four of them were on embryology, and the last was a book I genuinely wanted to read which was recommended by a lecturer in my History of Medicine class entitled "The Men who Play God" referring of course to physicians.
At this point the lady in the counter stood up and asked me if I had found the books I needed. I breathed a sigh of relief when I realized she was there to help me find the last book. I explained to her that my last book was from the Filipiniana section, and she directed me to a bookcase. She made me walk up these mobile stairs like you see in the Beauty and the Beast movie and I was there trying to look for my book. I couldn't find it, so she offered to do it herself. She couldn't find it either. Apparently, official records state that the library has the book, but the book has since gone missing. Shame. Now I have no excuse to study embryology.
I then asked the old lady for directions on how to borrow books. Luckily, this part went smoothly. She told me to go to the other desk in the first room of the library (the one which I initially saw no one manning) and tell them that I wanted to borrow books. A few stamps and signatures here and there and off I was with four embryology books.
I felt good after the whole adventure. I felt almost as if I had accomplished something extraordinary. Maybe its because I really know myself to be street-retarded and I'm proud that I was able to figure things out (almost) completely by myself for once. Diskarte. Hooray.
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