A state college’s modern-looking main library featured by Heart Evangelista in a video clip is being likened by young Filipinos to international or “world-class” libraries seen in other countries.
The 35-year-old fashion maven on her Twitter account showed off Sorsogon State College‘s new library that was completed last year and tagged her husband, Sorsogon Gov. Chiz Escudero.
Evangelista’s video has gone viral with over 77,400 views, 7,600 likes and more than 1,100 retweets since she shared it on Monday.
The new library of Sorsogon State Collage 🖤 @SayChiz pic.twitter.com/kJJPZZIwfB
— LoveMarie O. Escudero (@heart021485) August 31, 2020
The school library made online buzz last month when an alumna of the state college shared some pictures of the facility on Facebook and expressed her amazement over the improvement of its new look.
The library was designed by architectural and interior design instructor John Olinad Esller, an alumna of the state college, who shared that he “made the plans based on CHED’s guidelines to cater more students and readers.”
“It is just one of the requirements to make SSC (Sorsogon State College) fully a state university, proud to be the designer, good to see my drawings come to life, salamat at may mga naka-ka-appreciate,” he wrote on Facebook two weeks ago.
🇵🇭 SSC/SSU library update, kudos to the PPFD team & inspection team who supervise through the whole construction process of the building. Hope they’ll complete it soon! 🤗👍🙏 #TGBTG
Posted by John Olinad Salcedo Esller on Wednesday, August 19, 2020
Peek at other libraries around the world
Meanwhile, Evangelista’s feature of the library prompted young Filipinos to liken it to other “world-class” libraries in terms of its design.
“This vid radiates ‘kinda Ivy League University’ feels,” wrote a Twitter user in response to her video clip.
Ivy League schools comprise of eight private universities in Northeastern America with a widespread reputation for academic excellence, extremely selective admissions processes and overall social prestige.
These are Brown University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University and Yale University.
Some of their libraries are considered the United States’ “most beautiful college libraries” which are described as “awe-inspiring.”
These include Princeton’s Firestone Library, Harvard’s Widener Library, Cornell’s Uris Library and Columbia’s Butler Library.
Widener Library, Harvard University – Cambridge
Posted by Biblioteke Planete on Wednesday, October 7, 2015
Uris Library, Cornell University
Posted by Raremapsandbooks.com on Monday, October 26, 2015
Butler Library photo by @jlingjling
Posted by Columbia University in the City of New York on Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Another Twitter user said that Sorsogon State College’s library reminded him of South Korea’s Starfield Library which has been included in travel guide book publisher Lonely Planet‘s list of places of attraction in Seoul.
“More like a 13m-tall, neon-lit, designer shrine to books than a library, you can’t actually take anything away here, but there are desks, sofas and reading nooks for magazine flipping and swiping through the available tablets,” Lonely Planet said.
“There are over 50,000 Korean and international titles; most come to take selfies while resting from shopping as its conveniently at the centre of COEX Mall,” it added.
i feel the vibe of Starfield Library in Seoul here. 😘😘😘 pic.twitter.com/yrLBJSq8U9
— joaquin padilla ➐ (@ytsvan) August 31, 2020
Starfield Library at COEX Mall
Posted by Korea Tourism Organization Manila Office on Tuesday, June 23, 2020
Libraries were noted to “make a positive difference to students’ self-esteem, confidence, independence and sense of responsibility in regard to their own learning,” according to a 2013 report for the Australian School Library Association.
Their qualities of collection were also observed to have an “impact on student learning.”
Students were likewise discovered to score higher in their exams when there is an increase in usage of libraries.
